TRON: Uprising Season Two
by ShortyBoss
Summary: This fan-made second season will continue the events of TRON: Uprising, and bridge the gap between Terminal and TRON: Legacy. Episode Eight: Field Test. While members of the Uprising hit prisoner transports to free the programs wrongfully taken hostage by the Occupation, Yori, Mara and Zed sneak onto the flagship for information so the Uprising can stop the Games for good.
1. The Resistance, Part I

So, there hasn't been an update on House of Mirrors for several months. Sorry about that, but I've hit some serious writer's block with that story. However, I am not completely without stories. This is a little pet project of mine that's been bouncing around in my head for a while, but I've only recently actually started to work on. Yes, it's a continuation fic for Tron Uprising. I am well aware that this is something of a trend for fic at the moment, but I've got quite a few ideas that I think would lend themselves well to a second season. Of course, if a second season does come out (very unlikely), then all of this will be wrong, but, whatever. I'll also try to stick to the format of the show as much as possible. So, without further ado, I present to you, the season première of Tron Uprising Season 2.

Disclaimer: Tron and all things associated to it belong to the Mouse. I'm just playing around with it.

* * *

Accessing archived data...

Tron recovers from his injuries...

_"Shouldn't you be taking it easy?" asked Beck as he attacked another Black Guard._

_"This is me taking it easy!" Tron replied, smacking a Guard with his staff as he did so._

...Beck loses a friend...

_"Clu repurposed you," Beck whispered as Cutler's circuit lines changed from white to orange._

_"Clu showed me the light," Cutler said in reply..._

_...Beck's face fell as Cutler began laughing at him. With the bomb ticking down, Beck had no choice but to drop Cutler. The bomb exploded, killing Cutler and badly damaging the super-recognizer._

...The programs at the garage decide to make a stand...

_Mara stood at the centre of a line of programs facing Pavel and his guards._

_"From now on, we protect each other," she said as the sound of discs being activated broke the silence after the crash. "Tell your boss we're done letting one program fight our battles."_

_"Welcome to the house of pain," said Zed with a smirk..._

_..."The Uprising has begun," said Tron, watching the scene from atop the wreckage._

...And Tesler prepares to receive a special guest.

_Tesler snatched the tablet away from Paige, and a look of sheer terror crossed his face once the image on the tablet came into focus._

_"Clu..."_

* * *

Beck surveyed the scene below. Pavel was retreating to the Recognizer he'd landed in Able's Garage, with his guards following close behind him. Standing front of the wreckage, all the programs that worked at the garage were standing with their discs ready for combat. Beck glanced over his shoulder at Tron.

"Tesler's not going to take this lying down," said Beck.

"Neither will Clu," said Tron. "He's never liked it when things don't go his way."

"We have to get these programs out of here, before more guards arrive to investigate."

"That's a good idea, but my hideout in the Outlands isn't big enough to accommodate all of them," said Tron.

"Able built that base, right?" asked Beck. After Tron nodded slowly, Beck smiled. "If one mechanic can build that base, a whole bunch of us ought to be able to expand it, right?"

"Good point," said Tron. "With their help, we can convert it from a simple hideout into a proper secret base."

"Exactly," said Beck. "All we have to do is make sure they get there in one piece."

Beck started to climb off the wreckage, but Tron placed a hand on his shoulder to stop him.

"I should be the one to talk to them," said Tron. "Tron Lives, after all. But perhaps more importantly, your friends are probably worried about you."

"Good point," said Beck. Beck removed his disc, and twisted off the bottom half. As he did so, his white suit changed into a black one, and the insignia on his chest disappeared. Tron accepted the half-disc and reattached it to his own disc. Beck then headed slightly deeper into the wreckage, in order to loop around and join his friends. Tron rezzed his helmet, and made his way towards the programs that had gathered below.

* * *

**TRON: Uprising**

**The Resistance, Part I**

* * *

"Hey, look! The Renegade's coming over here!" said one of the programs, pointing at Tron.

"Greetings, programs," said Tron as the mechanics all turned to face him. He collapsed his helmet, and a very small but very smug smile caused his lips to twitch as whispers of shock and awe spread through the crowd. "I'm sorry we couldn't meet in better circumstances, but we don't have time to stand around."

"What do you mean by that?" asked Mara.

"Pavel will probably be back with reinforcements to arrest all of you for treason," said Tron. "And there will most likely be guards headed this way to investigate the crash."

"What was that thing, anyway?" asked Zed. "And what was it doing here in Argon?"

"I'll explain everything once we get someplace safe," said Tron. "For now, everyone needs to gather their things and grab a light-cycle."

"Where are we going?" asked Mara.

"I have a hideout, deep in the Outlands," said Tron. "It's small, but we can expand it later. We need to get there before Occupation forces arrive."

Mara swallowed. "A-all right," she said, her voice trembling slightly as she began to realize that by siding against Clu, all the programs at Able's Garage had become outlaws. She took a few breaths to steady herself, then turned to face the other mechanics. "Well, you heard Tron!" she yelled. "Get your stuff and a light-cycle. Come on, move!"

Her words shook the others out of their shock. They all started running back into the garage. Mara stayed for a second, looking around frantically. "Where's Beck run off to now?" she muttered.

"I'm right here," said a voice behind her.

Mara spun around to face him. "Beck! You're okay!" She gave him a quick hug, then let him go and glared at him angrily. "Where were you?!"

"I was just out for a walk, and that thing nearly landed on me," said Beck, pointing over his shoulder at the wreckage. "I got here just in time to see you guys standing up to Pavel, and I heard everything Tron said."

Mara narrowed her eyes. "You don't sound too surprised that the Renegade is actually Tron," she said thoughtfully. "And you've used that 'taking a walk' excuse a lot recently to explain why you haven't shown up for your shifts... very long walks, and while you're gone, the Renegade shows up..." Mara's eyes widened as the puzzle pieces began to fall into place. "You're the Renegade, aren't you?"

Beck sighed. "Okay, fine. I admit it, I'm the Renegade." After he said that, there was a brief pause. Then Mara slapped him.

"Ow!" he moaned as he rubbed his sore cheek. "What was _that_ for?"

"Why didn't you tell us you were the Renegade?" Mara asked.

"Look, I..." Beck stopped, and sighed again. "Can we have this conversation once we get somewhere safe?"

"Yeah, that's probably a good idea," said Mara, turning towards the Garage. "But we will be having that conversation!" she shouted over her shoulder.

"Yeah, I'm looking forward to it," Beck muttered, before running after her to grab a cycle.

* * *

The air shimmered from the heat emitted from the jets of thousands of recognizers as a massive fleet hovered above the ocean, flying in perfect formation towards Argon City. Aboard the observation room of the flagship, Dyson approached Clu to deliver his report.

"We're entering Argon now, sir," he said.

"Good," said Clu. "How soon until we reach our destination?"

"One hundred microcycles, sir," said Dyson. "I also have news regarding the Mobile Repurposing Unit."

"Let me guess-something went horribly wrong?" asked Clu.

Dyson nodded. "The last report I received indicated that the Renegade arrived to rescue Tron, and interrupted the repurposing process after Tron's code had been cleansed, but before the new code could be installed. I've also received reports that the Mobile Repurposing Unit was badly damaged by an explosion, and crashed in Argon."

Clu growled in frustration. "So not only do I have a Renegade who was trained by Tron and has managed to evade Tesler since he first appeared, Tron himself is now back at full strength, and the best repurposing unit I have has been _destroyed__?!_"

"I'm afraid there's more, sir," said Dyson.

Clu snarled angrily. "Let's hear it."

"I intercepted a transmission between Tesler and Pavel, one of Tesler's lieutenants," said Dyson. At Clu's nod, Dyson continued, "He was reporting from a mechanic workshop near the crash site of the Mobile Repurposing Unit. He claims that all the programs there sided with the Renegade and tried to attack him. While I doubt he was actually attacked, the fact that other programs are openly siding with the Renegade is disturbing."

Clu was silent for a moment, and during that silence, Dyson wisely decided to take a few steps back.

"Incompetent idiot!" yelled Clu. "I gave that bit-brain all this time, and he still can't catch a single son of a glitch! Now I've got a full-scale _rebellion_ on my hands!" Clu drew and activated his disc, and slammed it into the transparent forcefield that served as a window. The door hissed open quietly, but Clu was too caught up in his anger to notice. Dyson, however, did notice. He glanced over his shoulder, and saw that the Sentry stationed outside was looking in. The Sentry turned away and the door shut. Dyson turned back to Clu as the ruler of the Grid returned his disc to its rightful place.

"Dyson," said Clu.

"Yes, sir?"

"You're dismissed until we arrive at Argon," Clu said.

Dyson bowed. "Understood, sir." Dyson turned on his heel and left Clu's observation room. Once the door shut, he turned to face the Sentry.

"Sentry, was there a reason you looked in Clu's observation deck without permission?" Dyson asked.

"Sir, an impact was detected on the viewscreen, consistent with a disc impact," said the Sentry. "Suspecting it was an assassin attempting to kill Clu, I opened the door to observe the scene and take action if necessary. When I realized it was Clu himself, I left immediately."

"I see," said Dyson. The Sentry was one of the repurposed programs, which explained why there was no sweat visible on his exposed chin. "And did you, uh... _hear_ any of our conversation before then?"

"No, sir, I did not," said the Sentry.

"Very good, Sentry," said Dyson. The repurposing made programs completely loyal to Clu, with the added side effect of leaving repurposed programs completely incapable of lying to the superiors. Still, it would be better to make sure no sensitive information was observed by anyone who should not see it.

"I'd like to see you in my office in ten microcycles," said Dyson. "Speak to no one until then."

"Understood, sir," said the Sentry, completely unaware of his impending deresolution.

* * *

Tron derezzed his cycle, and slowly poked his head around the corner. Behind him, Beck and the other programs from the Garage also pulled to a stop.

"What's wrong?" asked Beck.

"Security checkpoint," said Tron. "We'll need to somehow get past them."

Beck dismounted from his cycle and joined Tron in his observations. A recognizer had been landed to one side of the road, and the guards were checking the identity discs of the few programs using this particular exit.

"More guards than usual," said Beck. "I see at least six of them."

"And the pilot might still be in the recognizer, so there's at least seven," said Tron.

"Add in a copilot for a total of eight," said Beck.

"Ten," said Mara from behind them. Tron and Beck glanced at her over their shoulders. "There's two more guards on lookout standing on that rooftop," she said, blushing slightly as she pointed to the roof in question.

Tron glanced up and saw that Mara was right. "Good catch," he said.

Mara's blush intensified. "Th-thanks," she stammered.

"They seem to be more attentive than usual," said Beck.

"They're certainly more enthusiastic than normal," said Tron, watching as one of the guards roughly grabbed a male program and yanked his disc of his back. Once the Guard seemed satisfied with what he saw, he shoved the disc back into the program's hands and released him.

"How are we going to handle this?" asked Mara.

"We'll have to take out that recognizer," said Tron. "If that thing is left intact, it'll be hard to shake off. We'll also need to take out the two guards on lookout, and distract the rest."

"I can handle the distraction," said Beck. "But I'll need a grenade and the disc."

"You sure it's a good idea for you to wear the suit?" Tron asked.

"Well, the Renegade is a wanted program," said Beck. "Clu wants you alive, Tron. Who knows what could happen if you're caught?"

"And if you're caught, Clu would extract all the information he could from your disc, then kill you," said Tron.

"To Clu, I'm just some worthless nobody using the look of an apparently derezzed program," said Beck. "He'll probably just have me derezzed without even bothering to check my disc."

"Do you really believe that?" asked Tron. "Clu might be insane with power, but he's not stupid, and neither is Dyson. If they can't get the information from your disc, they'll try to torture it out of you, and then derez you once you're no longer useful."

"And if you're caught, Clu will repurpose you into one of his soldiers," said Beck. "He'll use you to crush the hope of any other programs who are thinking of rebellion. I can't let you be caught."

Tron opened his mouth to continue the argument, then stopped. "You're going to keep arguing until I give you the suit, aren't you?"

"If I say yes, will you give me the disc?" Beck asked cheekily.

"Heh. All right, have it your way," said Tron. Tron pulled out his disc and separated the two halves. Beck took the bottom half and attached it to his own disc. As his suit switched from black to white, Beck rezzed in his helmet.

"I need you to take out the lookouts," said Beck. "I'll handle the guards inside the recognizer and the recognizer itself. Once I've got the attention of the other guards, get everyone to the hideout. I'll find my own way back."

Tron nodded, and passed Beck a grenade. "Good luck."

"I think I'm gonna need it," said Beck as he accepted the grenade. He ran down the street, taking the back alleys to move closer to the Recognizer without being seen. The entry hatch was still open, so Beck bolted inside. Two guard programs were standing at the controls of the Recognizer.

"Have you heard the rumors?" asked one of the guards.

"I've heard quite a few," said the other. "You'll have to be more specific."

"The ones about that massive Recognizer that crashed near the garage," said the first.

"Yeah, I know all about that," said the second. "They say it was some sort of secret weapon."

"Why would it be in Argon, though?" asked the first.

"Dunno," said the second. "But it probably has something to do with the Renegade."

Beck used that as his cue, leaping out of hiding and slamming his fists into the guard's helmeted head. The guard grunted and collapsed.

"Hey!" yelled the second.

Beck drew his disc, but didn't activate the cutting edge. He smacked the guard with it, and he collapsed as well. Beck glanced out the windscreen at the rooftop where the lookouts were stationed. Tron looked back down at him and nodded. Beck nodded back. He planted the grenade on the Recognizer's controls and set the timer.

Beck ran out, making sure the guards could see him. As the grenade went off, he pulled out his baton and rezzed his light-cycle.

"It's the Renegade! _After him!_" yelled one of the guards. Four of the guards rezzed their cycles and gave chase.

"You stand guard here," one of the remaining guards, before he rezzed his cycle and chased after his fellows.

"Hey, wait!" said the remaining Guard, but his companions were already out of earshot. The last guard sighed. "How come nothing exciting ever happens to me?" His grumbling was soon silenced when Tron snuck up behind him and knocked him out.

Tron turned to the programs from Able's Garage. All of them had watched the display with silent awe.

"Come on!" Tron yelled, snapping them out of their stupor. Tron rezzed his light-cycle and raced off into the Outlands, followed closely by the other programs.

Beck glanced over his shoulder at his pursuers, checking to see how many of the guards he'd distracted.

_Well, five out of six isn't so bad_, Beck thought. _Now all I've got to do is lose them_.

With a flick of his thumb, Beck activated his cycle's light-wall. The leader of the pursuit team was directly behind Beck. As the white light-wall flashed into existence, the leader braked hard, but it wasn't enough. His cycle slammed into the light-wall, throwing him off. The leader hit the ground with a loud thud, and the other four guards raced around him, two on either side of Beck's light-wall. The remaining guards activated their light-walls, and the deadly game began.

* * *

Tesler was pacing angrily on the hangar deck of his flagship. He knew that the only reason Clu would come to Argon was to deal with the Renegade personally. And if Clu was coming to do that, it meant that Tesler was no longer of any use to Clu. Tesler was now expendable... and that thought made him angry. He hadn't clawed his way up to the position of general just to be disposed of when he failed to catch a single program.

"General!" said a guard's voice from behind him.

Tesler whirled around to face the guard. "_What?!_" he snarled.

To his credit, the guard barely flinched. "Sir, the Renegade has been sighted in the northwest areas of Argon."

"What's he doing and where's he headed?" Tesler asked.

"He's heading deeper into the city, sir, towards Able's Garage," said the guard. "But we're not sure what he's trying to do. He destroyed a recognizer stationed near the northwest exit point, but we don't know why."

"Maybe he's trying to give someone a way out of Argon," said Paige, walking up behind Tesler.

Tesler nodded. "Get recognizers and light-jets in the air and sweeping the area. If the Renegade has allies, I want them rounded up."

"Yes, sir," said the guard. "What about the Renegade?"

Tesler began to walk towards a light-copter. "Paige, you're in charge of preparing for Clu's arrival. I'm going after the Renegade personally."

"General, are you sure that's a good idea? What if Clu arrives early?" Paige asked.

"He won't," said Tesler. "He will arrive exactly when he says he arrived, and not a nanocycle sooner. And if I _don't_ catch the Renegade, well... let's just say that Clu will be _very_ displeased with me."

* * *

Beck swerved to his right, cutting down into another street and hugging the right wall. The two guards on his left swerved around his light-wall easily. The guards on his right had some trouble. The one closest to him couldn't make the turn fast enough, and slammed into his light-wall, causing his cycle to derez. The other easily made the turn, but his cycle skidded on the cube-like voxels of the derezzed light-cycle, and he slammed into Beck's light-wall as well.

_Three down, two to go_, thought Beck.

Beck continued to drive through the streets of Argon, swerving through corners to try and cause the remaining two pursuers to crash. The two surviving guards matched him move for move, not once coming close to smashing into Beck's light-wall. Beck drew his disc, and threw it at a nearby overhead pipe. The disc cleaved through the left end of the pipe, and the pipe began to fall. Beck stayed close to the right wall, and made it through the gap between the fallen pipe and the wall. One of Beck's pursuers also made it through the gap. The other was forced to come to a stop, trapped between his companion's light-wall and the dead end formed by the pipe.

The last of the guards accelerated until he was level with Beck, then rammed his cycle into Beck's. Beck grunted as the guard's shoulder dug into his side, and his cycle wobbled from the force of the impact. Beck passed his disc from his right hand to his left, and slammed it into the front wheel of the guard's cycle. The cycle derezzed, sending orange-lined black cubes skittering across the street and dumping the guard with a thud. Beck swung down another street and skidded to a stop, just barely avoiding the wreckage from the super recognizer. Beck blinked a few times in surprise. Surely that race across Argon hadn't led him back here, had it?

Beck dismounted, and the cycle collapsed back into his baton. He clipped the baton to his leg, and walked around the wreckage. Sure enough, Able's Garage was right there, completely empty of programs, possibly for the first time since its construction.

Beck swallowed the lump that had risen in his throat, and entered the garage. It was rather obvious that everyone had left in a hurry; multitools were scattered near workstations, vehicles were standing with their codes still being accessed, the lights were still on...

"Able wouldn't like to see this," Beck muttered with a sad smile. He knelt next to a light-cycle, and deactivated the multitool, closing the open window of code. He placed the multitool on a nearby bench, derezzed the cycle and attached the baton to his leg, before moving over to the next light-cycle. As he reached down to pick up the second multitool, he saw something, no, _someone_, moving on the other side of the Garage. Beck down behind the light-cycle and reached behind his back, ready to draw his disc.

"I know you're in here, Renegade!" Tesler yelled as he walked in, scanning the room. "Show yourself!"  
Beck gritted his teeth and growled in frustration. He stood up, keeping the cycle between him and Tesler as he drew his disc.

"All right, you found me," said Beck. "Now what are you gonna do?"

"That was a good race with those light-cycles earlier," said Tesler. "It's almost a shame I have to derez you; you'd make an excellent participant in the Games."

"And slaughter innocent programs for your amusement? No thanks," Beck said, tightening his grip on his disc.

"Suit yourself," said Tesler, derezzing his cloak and powering up his unique extendable arms. "I was going to give your cubes to Clu, anyway." Tesler thrust his right arm forward, and his arm extended, his open hand reaching for Beck. Beck threw his disc at Tesler's hand, causing Tesler's attack to shoot off course.

"Can you even afford that kind of long distance mail?" Beck asked as he caught his disc.

"I don't need to mail it," said Tesler as he retracted his arm. "Clu's on his way to Argon right now... and when I give him your disc, he won't have me executed for incompetence!"

Beck gasped in shock. "Clu's coming _here_?"  
"Oh, didn't you know?" asked Tesler. "Apparently, you've caused _so_ much trouble that Clu has taken a personal interest in you."

"I'm not the one he wants," said Beck. "Clu's after Tron."

"Tron's _dead_, you bit-brain!" Tesler snarled, charging at Beck. Tesler swung his right arm at Beck's face, but Beck ducked and fired off two quick jabs to Tesler's ribs. Tesler tried to smack Beck with the back of his hand, but Beck leaned back, and the blow passed in front of his face. Tesler used his momentum to spin around and punch Beck in the chest. Beck was knocked into the air by the force of the blow, and skidded back several feet.

"You were right about me not being Tron," said Beck, gasping for air. "But that doesn't change the fact that Tron Lives."

Tesler growled in anger, and rezzed his arm cannon, aiming at Beck.

"Uh-oh," said Beck, as the cannon fired. Beck dove forward, and the superheated energy blast shot through the garage, blasting a hole in the far wall. Tesler fired again, aiming at the ground in front of Beck. Beck jumped over the blast and the newly-formed crater, closing the distance between him and Tesler. Tesler derezzed his arm cannon and powered up his arms, throwing a powerful punch at Beck once he was in range. Beck dodged, and kicked Tesler in the chin. Beck then drew his disc and thrust it at Tesler, but Tesler blocked the attack by grabbing Beck's disc with his left hand. Beck grabbed the baton clipped to his leg and activated the staff function. Beck smacked Tesler in the chest with the staff. Tesler grunted, dropped Beck's disc and staggered back a step. Beck scooped up his disc, and returned it to his back socket.

"You've been practicing," said Tesler approvingly. "You're good, but you're still just an ordinary program. What are you, a musician? An accountant, maybe? Do some mechanic work?"

Beck launched a flurry of attacks with his staff. Tesler managed to block most of them with his arms, but a few blows managed to sneak past his defense, leaving small marks in his chest.

"Does your _boss_ know you're here?" Tesler asked in mock-disappointment, before a vicious smile crossed his face. "Or is he too busy being a dead pile of cubes?"

Beck screamed in anger, and began swinging his staff even faster, spurred on by his anger. Too late, he noticed the look of triumph on Tesler's face. Beck realised that he'd overextended his reach, left himself vulnerable to attack... and Tesler was all too willing to take advantage of that lapse. Beck had swung his staff, and Tesler had leaned to the side. Tesler reached behind Beck and grabbed the back of his head. With a yell, Tesler pushed Beck, slamming his helmeted head into the floor. The impact left a dent in the floor and shattered Beck's faceplate. Tesler then threw Beck across the garage, and Beck slammed into a parked light-cycle, knocking it over.

"So you are one of Able's programs," said Tesler. "Where are the rest of your friends?"

Beck slowly pushed himself to his feet, noticing that half his faceplate was missing. There were several small cuts on the exposed side of his face.

"They're long gone now," said Beck. "You'll never find them."

"So you're just here as a distraction," said Tesler.

"That's right," said Beck. "And I'd say it was working pretty well."

"You fool," said Tesler mockingly. "I realised what you were trying to pull as soon as I heard what you did at the checkpoint. The recognizers would've scooped up your friends by now. This uprising of yours is doomed to end before it can even start."

* * *

"Tron! Look behind us!" Mara yelled.

"I see them," Tron replied, spotting at least four recognizers flying in a search pattern. Fortunately, a snow storm was beginning to form. Unfortunately, it would take too long for them to reach his hideout with the storm raging. Fortunately, Tron knew this stretch of the Outlands well.

"There's a cave nearby!" Tron yelled. "We can take cover there while we wait for the storm and the recognizers to pass!"

"Can we even make it in time?!" Zed asked.

"We should be able to!" Tron yelled, gunning his light-cycle. More quietly, he added, "By my User, I hope so."

Tron weaved his cycle through a rock formation, making a sharp right turn once he cleared it. The other programs following him either slowed down as they made their way through the rocks, or just went around it. That caused them to take more time, allowing the recognizers to catch up. Tron spotted the cave up ahead and drove inside. A few seconds later, Mara drove in, followed closely by Zed and Link. After half a minute, most of the programs from the garage were in the cave. The last to enter was Dash, who made it in mere seconds before a recognizer's spotlight sweeped past the cave entrance.

"Did they see you?" Tron asked Dash as he derezzed his light-cycle.

"No, I don't think so," said Dash.

Tron kept his gaze fixed on the entrance to the cave. After a few minutes, the storm began to pick up strength, and Tron didn't see any searchlight from the recognizers sweeping the area.

Tron sighed in relief. "Okay, we should be safe for now. Once this storm lets up, we'll head the rest of the way to my hideout." Though his tone was light, Tron was still worried. He turned back to the cave mouth, keeping his eyes open... just in case.

* * *

"I wouldn't bet on that," said the Renegade. "Tron's good at getting away from Clu's forces."

"I've had enough of your babbling about a dead program!" Tesler snarled, activating his arm cannon. A high-pitched whine filled the air, as Tesler began to charge the cannon to fire a more powerful blast. Beck sprinted forward, ducking to grab his baton. He closed the distance between him and Tesler, and shoved Tesler's arm cannon up. The powerful blast of energy shot skywards, blasting a massive hole in the roof. As cubes began to rain down on them, the Renegade turned and ran, activating his baton's light-jet. He raced upwards, flying out the end of the garage and over the Sea of Simulation. Tesler ran outside, and saw a light-copter nearby, and watched as Paige walked towards him.

Tesler was taking aim at the Renegade's receding light-jet as Paige walked up.

"I thought I told you to prepare for Clu's arrival," he said.

"I did," said Paige. "I left Pavel in charge of a few last things, then came out here to help you."  
Tesler fired his cannon, and the blast lanced through the Renegade's light-jet, destroying one of the wings. The light-jet swung around, smoke billowing from the damaged wing, and after a few seconds of semi-flight, crashed in the docks.

"While I appreciate the gesture, I didn't need your help," said Tesler. "But since you're here, I want you to check that crash site. I don't care if you have to pull it from his decompiling hand, _I want his disc_!"

"Yes, General!" said Paige. She turned and ran towards the light-copter. As she jumped into the cockpit and began to prepare to take off, she slowed down to think for a second. She'd witnessed the last few seconds of the fight, when the Renegade had pointed Tesler's cannon at the roof, then raced out the garage. As he'd raced past, Paige had noticed that the Renegade's faceplate was shattered. She'd only seen his face for a brief second, but she would swear that she recognised that face. Was Beck _really_ the Renegade?

* * *

Beck groaned as he stood up. He'd turned the light-jet so that the bottom of the jet had been facing towards the garage when he jumped out. He'd activated his wing-chute as he fell, and the chute had barely slowed him down enough to land without injuring himself any further. He shook his head and collapsed the remains of his helmet. Beck brushed a hand against the small cuts on his face, wincing in pain as his fingers touched the exposed areas. Fortunately, his injuries were minor, and would heal with some rest.

Beck's head snapped up as he heard a light-copter on approach. He glanced around, and spotted an unloaded and unlocked cargo container and ducked inside. He closed the container once he was in, leaving the door open a crack so he could see. He spotted the light-copter he'd heard land, and watched Paige step out and survey the wreckage of his light-jet. While her attention was on the crash, Beck gently pulled the door closed. Once the door was closed there was a soft click as the lock engaged.

"Oh, son of a glitch," Beck muttered. He pressed his ear to the door and listened. He gasped softly as he heard footsteps getting closer. Beck heard the sound of container doors being moved as Paige checked a few other empty containers. When she reached the container he was hiding in, she tried the door a few times. Once she realised it was locked, Paige moved onto the next one, and Beck let out a breath he hadn't realised he'd been holding. About a minute later, Beck heard the light-copter take off. A few minutes after that, he activated his disc and sliced open the lock and pushed the door open. Beck returned his disc to its socket, then examined the second baton he'd picked up at the garage before the fight with Tesler had began. It was a single-purpose baton, rather than a multi-purpose baton like he preferred. Still, batons were easy enough to modify, so it would be easy to make a multi-purpose baton. Now all he had to do was sneak out of Argon City and make it back to Tron's hideout, something he had plenty of experience with.

* * *

"So, why weren't you out there as the Renegade?" Mara asked Tron. The storm was still raging outside the cave, so the programs gathered had decided to pass the time by pestering Tron for information. Mara had figured out that Beck had been the Renegade from the beginning, which Tron had confirmed. In the expectant silence that followed her newest question, Tron could feel the gaze of all the other programs on him.

Tron sighed. "When Clu launched his coup, I fought off Black Guards to give Flynn time to escape. Clu then attacked and overpowered me. I was injured, but I wasn't killed."

"Why not?" asked Zed.

"Clu and his right-hand man, _Dyson_," Tron practically spat Dyson's name, "wanted me to join them, which couldn't happen if I was dead. They showed me something they called repurposing."

"Repurposing?" Mara asked in confusion. "I've never heard of that before."

"Be grateful you haven't," said Tron. "It's something Clu uses to force programs to join them. He cleanses their old code and installs new code into them, converting them into mindless drones."

Zed went pale, and Mara gasped in shock. "That's horrible!"

Tron nodded. "I watched helplessly as my old team was repurposed. The only reason I wasn't repurposed was because a program's personality was practically wiped out, and Clu wanted me to join of my own free will. Dyson tortured me, gave me scars I thought would never heal, then ordered two Sentries to take me to Clu's command ship."

"What happened then?" asked Zed.

"One of the Sentries sabotaged the recognizer we were on, and dragged me out of the wreckage. He was the original Renegade... Cyrus."

"What?! Cyrus was also a Renegade?!" Mara asked.

"He _was_," said Tron, placing extra emphasis on the second word. "Cyrus came to believe that the only way to save the Grid was to destroy it, so I had to imprison him. Unfortunately, Beck ended up accidentally releasing him, and he made his way to Argon." Tron paused to make sure Zed and Mara were looking at him. "_Cyrus_ killed those programs to give Beck a bad reputation, and _he_ was the one who planted the bombs that killed Able."

"But, wait a second," said Zed. "If Beck's the Renegade, why did Able rescue us?"

"Firstly, because Able knew Beck was the Renegade," said Tron. "Secondly, Beck was busy saving _me_ from a bomb."

"What?!" Mara asked.

"Cyrus is a master manipulator, and he wanted to make Beck suffer, no matter which option he chose," said Tron. "He could either save his friends, or he could save his mentor... but he couldn't save both."

"What happened to Cyrus?" Zed asked after a few seconds of silence.

"I... I don't know," said Tron. "When the bomb reactivated, I strapped it to Cyrus. He fell off a ledge, and when I looked, there was no sign of Cyrus, just the bomb itself."

"What if he was derezzed from the fall?" asked Link, one of the other programs from the garage.

"If he had been derezzed, there would have been voxels left behind," said Tron. "I didn't see any cubes when I checked."

"So, Cyrus is still out there?" asked Mara.

"I'd like to hope not," said Tron. "But until I'm sure he's dead, we'd better be prepared for him to show up again."

Tron looked back out the cave mouth. "I don't think this storm is going to let up any time soon," he said. "We should still be able to get to my hideout if we go slow and stick together."

* * *

Beck opened the door to the main room of Tron's hideout. Tron and the other programs from the garage weren't there. Beck ran over to the holographic display on the far wall, and began searching to see if Tesler had made any announcements to the general public that he'd missed. There were none, which wasn't necessarily a good thing. Tesler could just be waiting for Clu to arrive before he announced it...

Beck heard footsteps behind him, and spun around, activating his disc.

"You're jumpy," said Tron, looking over Beck.

"You're okay!" Beck sighed with relief. "When did you get here?"

"We arrived just after you did," said Mara from behind Tron.

"I didn't see you behind me," said Beck. He then glanced out the window. "Although, with this storm, that's not surprising." Beck began to walk forward, then he started to collapse. Tron caught him before he hit the floor.

"You look like you could use a trip to the healing chamber," said Tron.

"I haven't finished fixing it yet," said Beck. "And wasn't that only to keep you alive after what Dyson did to you?"

"I'm sure one of these guys can fix it," said Tron. "And the healing chamber could be modified to deal with other injuries."

"I don't think any of my injuries are that serious," said Beck. "I'm just exhausted."

"What happened?" Tron asked.

"I lured the guards further into the city and took them out," said Beck. "I must not have been thinking, because I ended up back at Able's Garage. That's when I ran into Tesler."

"That would explain why you look so beat up," said Tron. "Even with all your training, he's still out of your league."

"I thought I did all right," said Beck. "I managed to escape, but he shot down my light-jet. I crashed in the docks, hid for a short time while Paige examined the wreckage, then made my way back here."

"Sounds like quite an adventure," said Tron. He then took a good look at Beck's face. "How did your face get injured?"

"Tesler slammed me into the ground and broke my faceplate," said Beck. "He figured out that I was a program from Able's Garage before he broke my faceplate, though. And I don't think he actually recognised me."

"He's still seen your face," said Tron. "Admittedly, you're a fugitive now anyway, but it still isn't good that Tesler has seen your face."

"There's something else," said Beck. A look of absolute terror crossed Beck's face. "Clu's coming to Argon."

* * *

A massive fleet eclipsed the skies of Argon City. Some of the vessels flew in holding patterns, others flew in sweeps across the city, and yet others circled Tesler's flagship. Clu's personal ship flew into the hangar of Tesler's flagship. Guards and Sentries were standing at attention in parade formation, perfect blocks of programs forming an aisle. Clu's ship set down at the end of the aisle.

Tesler was fuming as he walked towards the flagship. Not only had the Renegade slipped through Paige's grasp at the docks, the programs from the garage had managed to evade the patrols, and with the storm raging in the Outlands, it was too dangerous to send recognizers or light-jets on patrol.  
Walking behind Tesler, Paige swallowed nervously. Pavel's gaze flicked between Tesler, Clu's ship and Paige as he calculated what might give him the better odds of survival.

Tesler, Paige and Pavel reached Clu's ship as the ramp began to lower. Tesler and his lieutenants knelt a short distance from the foot of the ramp. The first programs down the ramp were four helmeted Black Guards. Unlike standard Black Guards, these four had a small mark on their right shoulder, denoting they were members of Clu's personal guard. Clu's guards took their places, two on either side of the ramp. Clu himself then began to walk down the ramp, followed by Dyson, leader of the Black Guard and Clu's right-hand man.

"My lord, this is an unexpected pleasure," said Tesler. "I assure, we have been hard at work-"

"Spare me the excuses, Tesler," said Clu. "Your incompetence in dealing with this 'Renegade' has proven that you are no longer fit for command. You are being relieved of duty, effective immediately."

Tesler's eyes went wide in shock, and he stood up. "But, sir, I-"

"Dyson will be leading the Occupation forces here in your place," said Clu. A small smile touched Clu's lips. "End of Line, man."

"Sir, please-!"

Tesler was cut off as Dyson activated his disc and sliced through Tesler's shoulders. Paige gasped as she clapped her hands over her mouth, and Pavel's eyes went wide as he flinched and took a step back. Tesler's head pitched forwards, shattering into voxels as it hit the floor. For a sickening instant, Tesler's body remained standing, before it collapsed backwards, decompiling into cubes as it collapsed. Tesler's identity disc slowly rolled away, and came to a stop when it hit Paige's feet.

"Pavel," said Clu.

Pavel jolted in shock. "Y-Yes, my lord?"

"I'd like to make a speech to the people, let them know how things will be different now. Could you arrange that for me?"

"O-of course, my lord," stammered Pavel. Pavel turned and walked away very quickly, almost but not quite breaking into a run. Clu and Dyson followed, walking past Paige, who was frozen in horror at what she'd witnessed. The program who'd saved her from the ISOs, her mentor, he was... _dead_...

Hesitantly, Paige knelt down. She reached for Tesler's identity disc, and as her fingers closed around the disc, a shiver of fear ran down her spine. If Clu had derezzed Tesler, was she next?

* * *

So, it got kinda dark. But then, the actual show had death (and lots of it), racism and race riots, brainwashing and enough gore for a Quentin Tarantino film (and that's just in the Scars two-parter).

There is no way that the programs at the garage would be left alone after that display. Clu's vengeance would be harsh on all who stand against him, which is why I had them move out to Tron's hideout. It's probably big enough for them, but it would be uncomfortable, which is why renovations will be in order.

The scene where Clu loses his cool and a guard checks to make sure that his leader is not under attack was inspired by a similar scene from Star Wars: X-Wing: Solo Command, by Aaron Allston. The scene from Solo Command plays the guards behavior for laughs. In this case, Dyson is there, which means that everything goes downhill. Thing to remember with Dyson is that he's competent and ruthless. He will not take any chances that classified information could leak, hence the plan to kill the poor sentry. I was considering having Dyson just execute the Sentry then and there, but I figure he'd play it more careful than that.

One of the many things I like about Uprising is that Beck's combat skills noticeably improve as the series goes on. Even so, Tesler's Mighty Glacier fighting style is an almost perfect counter to Beck's Fragile Speedster. Beck has always been able to survive and escape, but he never actually defeats Tesler in a direct one-on-one battle. And Beck is very good at the whole stealth thing; he can sneak around in a white grid-suit in a predominantly black environment.

Cyrus was never confirmed to be killed. The scene in No Bounds does not show Cyrus, nor a pile of cubes that was Cyrus. The bomb is the only thing seen on the ground after he takes that fall. I checked. You don't have to take my word for it, though. Always remember that if there's no body, they're not dead. Except if the body is incinerated in an explosion or the dude falls into a pit of lava. Who lives through that?

Clu's arrival at the end was inspired by the Emperor's arrival aboard the Death Star in Return of the Jedi. I consider that scene a very good example of how the Bigger Bad should make an entrance. And yes, Tesler has been executed for incompetence. Clu's arrival would've shaken up the status quo that plagued the show, and since Clu values perfection, an imperfect performance record would not bode well for Tesler. And now Paige has Tesler's disc. I wonder what she'll find? ;)

Next episode is entitled 'The Resistance: Part II', and will see Beck launch a daring raid on Tesler's flagship to steal Tesler's disc for various reasons. Of course, things never go as planned, do they?

-ShortyBoss.


	2. The Resistance, Part II

So, here's the second part of the first story arc. This one continues to shake up the status quo from the show. Enjoy!

* * *

Accessing archived data...

Beck reveals his secret...

_...Beck sighed. "Okay, fine. I admit it, I'm the Renegade." After he said that, there was a brief pause. Then Mara slapped him..._

...and Tesler makes an impression on the Renegade.

_...Tesler reached behind Beck and grabbed the back of his head. With a yell, Tesler pushed Beck, slamming his helmeted head into the floor. The impact left a dent in the floor and shattered Beck's faceplate..._

Tron makes his escape...

_...Tron turned to the programs from Able's Garage. All of them had watched the display with silent awe._

_"Come on!" Tron yelled, snapping them out of their stupor. Tron rezzed his light-cycle and raced off into the Outlands, followed closely by the other programs..._

...And Clu decides to make a few changes.

_...A small smile touched Clu's lips. "End of Line, man."_

_"Sir, please-!"_

_Tesler was cut off as Dyson activated his disc and sliced through Tesler's shoulders... Tesler's head pitched forwards, shattering into voxels as it hit the floor. For a sickening instant, Tesler's body remained standing, before it collapsed backwards, decompiling into cubes as it collapsed... Hesitantly, Paige knelt down. She reached for Tesler's identity disc, and as her fingers closed around the disc, a shiver of fear ran down her spine. If Clu had derezzed Tesler, was she next?_

* * *

Beck entered the main room of Tron's hideout. Tron was standing by the holographic display, fiddling with a few things.

"How are you feeling?" Tron asked.

"Better," said Beck, rolling his shoulders. "Still a little stiff, though."

"Not surprising," said Tron. "Tesler really did a number on you."

"Getting some sleep really helped," said Beck. "By the way, how long was I out for?"

"About a millicycle," said Tron.

"So, I guess Clu arrived while I was sleeping," said Beck.

"Yes," said Tron. "Speaking of which, I think you might want to see this."

With a few taps, Tron opened up a video file and began playing it.

"Greetings, programs of Argon!" yelled a program with yellow circuit lines standing behind a podium. "As you know, I am Clu, the ruler of the Grid, the one who saved us from the plague of the ISOs, and the tyranny of the _User_, who supported those ISOs!"

As the assembled crowd cheered, Beck's eyes flicked over to Tron. A thunderous look passed over the old security program's face, and his hand clenched into a fist.

"And I am here, to bring order to this great city, and to bring an end to the terror, caused by the program we know as the Renegade!"

Clu's statement was welcomed with cheers from the crowd.

"Yes! This Renegade will no longer be able to freely cause you harm! He will be captured, and brought to justice! He-"

Tron reached up and muted the video. "He goes on like this for a while," he said. "Makes a few empty promises and reminds programs of all the _good_ he's supposedly done them. About the only important thing he says is that Dyson is now in charge of the Occupation here."

"So, if Dyson's now in charge, what happened to Tesler?" asked Beck.

"Knowing Clu, Tesler's probably dead," said Tron. "He never did appreciate failure."

Beck's eyes travelled back to the video that was still silently playing. Clu was gesticulating wildly, but Beck's attention was caught by something else.

"Look at Paige," said Beck. "Is it just me, or is she holding something?"

Tron paused the video, stopping Clu mid-gesture. "You're right, she _is_ holding something. And I have a hunch as to what it is."

"Tesler's identity disc," said Beck. "If we could get our hands on that, we could see everything Tesler had planned!"

"Not only that, but with that disc, we could use Tesler's permissions to access the Occupation's network," said Tron. "I need you to sneak aboard the flagship and steal that disc."

"Why can't you do it?" Beck asked.

"Because I've got work to do," said Tron, closing the video and reopening the windows he'd had earlier. "There are three things I'm working on at the moment. The first is teaching your friends how to fight."

"Speaking of them, where are they?" said Beck, looking around.

"They're resting in the training room," said Tron. "I set it up to give them a place to sleep in, but it's a temporary measure at best. That brings me to the second thing I'm working on, which is expanding this place so your friends have proper rooms."

Beck nodded. "And what's the third thing?"

"I'm trying to make contact with resistance movements in other cities," said Tron. "So far, I'm focusing my search on nearby cities, like Gallium, Bismuth and Purgos."

"Are you sure there are other resistances?" Beck asked, frowning.

"I don't believe that we're the only resistance movement," said Tron. "The only reason we've gotten Clu's personal attention is because I'm involved. Now get going - you've got a disc to steal."

* * *

**TRON: Uprising**

**The Resistance, Part II**

* * *

Paige entered Dyson's new office. "You wanted to see me, sir?" she asked.

"Ah, yes," said Dyson smoothly. "Take a seat."

As Paige sat down, Dyson laced his fingers together. "What I am about to tell you is highly confidential," he said. "If you tell anyone about what you've heard in this room, I _will_ find out, and I _will_ derez you. Is that understood?"

Paige nodded, swallowing the lump in her throat.

"Good," said Dyson. "Now, I wasn't planning on telling you this, but Clu insisted that I tell you the truth so you know what you're getting into."

"I understand, sir," said Paige.

"Excellent," said Dyson. The leader of the Black Guard narrowed his eyes. "The secret is this: the Renegade's heresy is, in fact, the truth. Tron Lives."

"What?" Paige gasped. "But Clu said-"

"I'm well aware that Clu said Tron was dead," said Dyson. "We truly believed that Tron actually was dead, so I was very surprised when I found out the truth."

"How did you find out that Tron was alive?" Paige asked.

"Remember when you were giving me that tour of the cooling plant, and equipment began to malfunction?" Dyson asked. Paige nodded slowly, so Dyson continued. "After you ran off, no doubt to prevent catastrophic equipment failure, I was attacked by the Renegade."

"The Renegade?" Paige asked in confusion. "But, I thought..."

"Something you want to tell me?" Dyson said invitingly.

"When I reached the control room, Pavel was standing at the controls," Paige said.

"Ah," said Dyson as understanding dawned. "He was trying to discredit Tesler, no doubt."

"That's correct," said Paige. "And he proposed that we team up to do so; a proposal I had no trouble turning down.

Dyson nodded. "Let me guess, Pavel's ambitious, greedy, slimy and petty?"

"You forgot disgusting and vile," said Paige.

Dyson chuckled, but quickly became serious again. "I've dealt with Pavel's kind before; he won't cause me any trouble. Now, where was I?"

"You were attacked by the Renegade," Paige said.

"Yes, thank you," said Dyson. "We fought, and the Renegade gained the upper hand, at which point he removed his helmet and I saw his face. The _only_ reason he didn't kill me is because he wanted me to send a message to Clu."

"So, all this time, I've been fighting Tron?" Paige asked.

"What? Oh, no, that's not true," said Dyson. "Tron was badly injured when Clu overthrew Flynn. He's only recently recovered. Most of the time, the Renegade has been some other program who hides his face to create the illusion that he is Tron."

"If that's the case, then why did Tron attack you personally, rather than send the Renegade?" Paige asked.

"Oh, that's simple," said Dyson. "It's because he hates me."

Paige was silent for several seconds. "Why does he hate you so much?" she eventually asked.

"Oh, several reasons, most of which aren't important," said Dyson. "The main reason is that we used to work together to maintain security, but I ended siding with Clu, and he didn't. He viewed that as a betrayal, and has hated me ever since."

"I... see," said Paige.

"Look, Tron's feelings about me are irrelevant," said Dyson. "What's important is that Tron has only recently returned to full strength. Before that, one of these programs was his stand-in."

As he said that, he waved his hand above his desk, and a series of holographic mugshots appeared in the air above Dyson's desk. Paige examined the faces in each picture.

"These are all programs from Able's Garage," Paige said.

"Correct," said Dyson, pulling out an deactivated identity disc and spinning it around his finger. "I had a look at Tesler's memories, and saw a few interesting things in his last fight with the Renegade. Tesler actually figured out that the Renegade was a program working there."

"How did he reach that conclusion?" Paige asked.

"Well, he made a few guesses," said Dyson. "Specifically, musician, accountant and mechanic, in that order. When the Renegade began to attack him after he made that last suggestion, he brought up Able's death, which really riled up the Renegade."

"You said Tron had recovered, yet that fight took place just over a millicycle ago," said Paige.

"Very observant," said Dyson. "Tron was busy with something else at that moment; specifically, getting the other programs from Able's Garage out of Argon."

"I thought the Renegade was acting strangely," said Paige. "I couldn't see any reason why he would fight Tesler in an area that would normally be heavily populated."

Dyson nodded. "One last question. Did you ever suspect any of these programs to be the Renegade?"

Paige's eyes travelled from mugshot to mugshot, lingering very briefly on Beck's. "No," she lied. "I did not."

Dyson shrugged. "It doesn't really matter, now. They are all fugitives now, anyway. You can go now."

"Yes, sir," said Paige. She stood up and began to walk out, but paused. "What are you planning to do with Tesler's disc?"

"Hm?" said Dyson, who glanced at the disc he was still twirling absent-mindedly around his finger. "Oh, this? You can have it back, if you want," Dyson tossed the disc at Paige, and she caught it easily. "I had a quick look through everything after you entered your rest cycle, and I didn't find anything important on there."

"Thank you, sir," said Paige. Once Paige was out of view, Dyson pushed a button on his desk. The tracker he'd planted on Tesler's disc activated. Sooner or later, Tron or the Renegade would arrive to steal Tesler's disc, and the tracker would lead Dyson straight to their hiding place. In the meantime, he needed to remove Tesler's access privileges. Clu would have his head if he allowed such a monumental security breach to happen...

* * *

Zed punched at Tron, but Tron dodged the blow easily.

"You're telegraphing your attacks," said Tron. "Move faster, less windup."

Mara ran up to Tron and kicked at him, but Tron simply stepped back, then easily blocked her following punch.

"And you're predictable," Tron said to Mara. "Shake things up a little."

Tron continued to block and dodge their attacks, watching them slowly improve.

"Come on, there's two of you and one of me," said Tron. "Stop fighting like individuals and work as a _team_."

Zed ran up to Tron and attacked again, but Tron easily blocked all his blows, and shoved Zed back. As Mara ran up to punch him from behind, Tron ducked down and to the side, grabbed Mara's arm, and flipped her over his shoulder. Mara slammed into Zed, and both programs hit the floor.

"Not bad," said Tron.

"Not bad? We lost," moaned Zed.

"Yeah, you lost... to the best combatant on the Grid," said Tron. "And considering how untrained you are, you did all right."

"How did Beck do in his first session with you?" asked Mara as she got back to her feet.

"He lasted a bit longer than you did," Tron said. "Though not much longer."

"Beck mentioned he fought Tesler," said Zed. "How often has he done that?"

"Not often," said Tron. "And Beck's usually the one who takes more of a beating in those fights. But against Sentries and Black Guards in a fair fight? Beck sweeps the floor with them."

"That must be high praise from you," said Mara. "How does he do it?"

"Beck's developed his own fighting style," said Tron. "He's fast and agile, so he uses that to his advantage. That's part of the reason he lost to Tesler; Tesler's tough and doesn't move around as much, but the hits he does land hurt like hell."

Zed and Mara looked at each other in confusion at that last turn of phrase. Tron noticed their confusion and chuckled.

"Sorry," he said. "That was a User phrase I picked up from Flynn. I spent way too much time with that old rascal."

"I never met Flynn," said Mara. "Was he really as bad as what Clu says?"

Tron's expression soured. "Flynn wasn't anything like what Clu says. The man I knew was brave and resourceful, even if he didn't always completely think things through." Tron sighed. "Clu's favourite tactic is something Flynn called 'demonisation'. He spreads false information that makes Flynn and the ISOs seem like monsters, and destroys anything that would say otherwise."

Tron cleared his throat. "All that aside, you still need lots of work on your fighting skills. The two of you worked rather well as a team just now; I suggest you focus on working together on combat, but don't get too reliant on each other."

Zed and Mara nodded in agreement.

"But first, let's work on your punches," said Tron. "You're both pulling your punches. Try using your hands like this..."

* * *

Paige stared at the disc in her hands. She held all the memories and knowledge of her derezzed mentor in her hands. She honestly wasn't sure what she'd find, even though there was probably nothing on there that she didn't all ready know about, so there wouldn't be any point... right?

Eventually, morbid curiousity won out over trepidation, and Paige activated the disc. She scrolled through the list of video files, and picked one that was from the previous millicycle.

The video began to play, and the Renegade was swinging his staff at Tesler. Tesler dodged the blow and grabbed the back of the Renegade's head. Tesler slammed the Renegade's head into the ground, and Paige noticed shards from his faceplate scattered around the impact zone. Tesler then threw the Renegade across the room.

"So you are one of Able's programs," said Tesler, his voice sounding slightly off in the video. "Where are the rest of your friends?"

The Renegade slowly made his way to his feet. He was doing his best to keep his face out of Tesler's view, but Paige still saw a familiar tuft of hair sticking out of the broken faceplate.

"They're long gone now," said the Renegade. His voice lacked the normal distortion it had while he wore his helmet, and Paige recognized that voice all too well.

"So you're just here as a distraction," said Tesler.

"That's right," said the Renegade. "And I'd say it was working pretty well."

"You fool," said Tesler mockingly. "I realised what you were trying to pull as soon as I heard what you did at the checkpoint. The recognizers would've scooped up your friends by now. This uprising of yours is doomed to end before it can even start."

"I wouldn't bet on that," said the Renegade. "Tron's good at getting away from Clu's forces."

"I've had enough of your babbling about a dead program!" Tesler snarled. He raised his arm and rezzed the massive cannon that was built into it. As Tesler charged up a powerful shot, the Renegade ran forward, and just before Tesler fired, shoved the cannon to point at the roof. The blast from the cannon tore a hole through the roof of Able's Garage, and as cubes rained down, Paige got a good look at the parts of the face visible through the Renegade's helmet. The visible part of Beck's face was covered in small cuts, no doubt received from when his face was slammed into the floor.

For a few seconds, Beck and Tesler stood there. Then Beck turned and ran, rezzing his light-jet as he did so. It was at that point that Paige paused the video. Paige had suspected for a long time that Beck was the Renegade, but she didn't have any solid proof to back up her suspicions, so she hadn't said anything. Now she had that proof in her hands. She could tell Dyson that she had identified the Renegade, but since Beck was a fugitive, it wouldn't really change anything. In fact, it might make the situation worse. If the Renegade was revealed to be a simple mechanic, many programs might begin to think that if a mechanic could fight the Occupation, then anyone could fight them. City-wide riots would ensue, which would result in the deresolution of untold thousands... and that was something Paige wouldn't allow.

Paige groaned and rubbed her temples. The proper choice was to tell Dyson. However, as a soldier, and more importantly, as a medic, her duty was to the people. If her actions would result in innocent programs being derezzed, then she couldn't reveal the truth to Dyson.

A sigh escaped Paige's lips, and she decided to continue scrolling through Tesler's memories. Her moral dilemma could wait, at least for a few more minutes while she finished browsing these files for anything interesting...

Paige spotted a video file with a date she recognised. She was intimately familiar with that particular date. That was when the Gallium Massacre had occurred, when two ISOs had killed all the programs at the Gallium City General Hospital, medics and patients alike... except her. Paige raised her hand to play the memory, but stopped with her finger hovering above the button. What would she see if she played that memory? Would she see Tesler trying to stop the ISOs in their rampage? Had Tesler arrived, only to find voxels scattered across the floors? With a trembling finger, Paige pressed the play button.

The video began with Tesler standing in the command centre of a recognizer. He activated a holoprojector, and bowed as Clu appeared above the projector.

"My lord, we are approaching the hospital in Gallium City," said Tesler. "I have it on good authority that two ISOs are at the hospital."

"Very good, Commander," said Clu. "Find those ISOs and derez them as soon as possible."

"Yes, sir," said Tesler. "And what if the ISOs have already left the area."

"Standard procedure, as always," said Clu. "We cannot allow the corruption of the ISOs to spread. I trust you can handle that?"

"Of course, sir," said Tesler. "I won't let you down."

"See to it that you don't," said Clu, before the hologram disappeared.

Tesler turned to the pilot of the recognizer. "Set down on that landing pad over there," he said.

"Yes, sir."

Once the recognizer had landed, Tesler and four Black Guards disembarked. The Black Guards stood in formation as the recognizer took off again. Several minutes passed before the recognizer returned, and as it did, Tesler's informants, a male and a female, both medic programs, walked into view. Paige gasped when she recognised her old friends.

"And you say her name was Quorra?" Tesler asked without preamble.

"She and her friend were treated right here," said Rox.

"They just left a few micros ago," said Linux, the male program.

"You've done the right thing," said Tesler. He then turned towards the hospital and walked past them. "Tear this place apart; erase any trace of their presence." He paused just in front of the guards. "And round up every program that's been exposed to the ISOs and have them derezzed immediately."

The two Black Guards closest to Tesler straightened, and prepared to execute their task.

"What?!" asked Rox.

"Collaborating with traitors must be punished," Tesler explained, looking at them over his shoulder. "As an example to anyone else who might consider helping them. I'm afraid that includes you."

"But we helped you!" said Linux.

Tesler simply turned away and began to walk towards the hospital. The first two Black Guards began walking towards Rox and Linux, staffs at the ready.

"_But we helped you!_" screamed Linux again.

"Please," Rox begged. "_No!_"

The screams of Linux and Rox were cut short as the Black Guards swiftly derezzed them.

"No," Paige whispered, tears beginning to form in her eyes. "No, it can't be true. It can't be..."

The video continued to play, and despite Paige's desperate pleading, she knew it was true. Tesler walked through the hospital at a constant, steady pace.

A medic burst out of a nearby corridor. "Please, you've got to help me!" he begged. Tesler simply drew his disc and rammed it into the program's chest, derezzing him. As his voxels hit the ground, Tesler spotted another medic, and threw his disc at her, derezzing her as well. Tesler continued his patrol, and passed one of the wards, pausing to watch as the Black Guards systematically executed the patients.

Paige deactivated Tesler's identity disc, burying her face in her hands as sobs wracked her body. She'd been lied to for so long... she _trusted_ Tesler... and now that monster was dead...

* * *

Beck opened a vent and dropped out of the air duct. While the ducts were rather cramped and an absolute maze, they were an easy way to sneak around the flagship. Once again, Beck mentally thanked whoever had designed the vessel for making the ducts big enough to crawl through. Now, assuming he wasn't lost, Beck believed he was close to Paige's quarters. She had been holding Tesler's disc during Clu's announcement, so it would make sense for Tesler's disc to be in her quarters. Hopefully, she wasn't actually _in_ her quarters.

As Beck approached the door, a noise from inside caught his attention. He pressed the side of his helmeted head against the door. Was that... sobbing?

Footsteps grabbed Beck's attention. He turned around, and saw a Black Guard rounding the corner.

"Hey!" yelled the Black Guard, drawing his disc.

Beck charged at the Black Guard, knocking the disc out of the program's hand. He then grabbed the guard's head and slammed into his knee. The guard slumped limply to the floor, unconscious.

* * *

Paige's head snapped up when she heard a program yell from outside her room. She then heard the sound of a disc being activated. There were a few soft thumps, then a much louder thud. Paige grabbed both Tesler's disc and her own, and activated the cutting edge on both.

As she opened the door, the Renegade spun around, drawing his own disc. Both of them stood in battle stances, waiting for the other to make the first move. After a long and rather awkward minute, Paige deactivated her two discs, and tossed Tesler's identity disc at the Renegade's feet as she straightened up.

"I assume you're here for this," she said.

Warily, the Renegade picked up the disc and activated it. Tesler's head appeared as a hologram above the disc.

"Why?" asked the Renegade.

"Tesler wasn't the man I thought he was," Paige spat bitterly.

The Renegade deactivated Tesler's disc, and attached it to his hip. "You'll be branded a traitor for helping me," he said.

"I know," said Paige. "Which is why I'm going with you."

The Renegade nodded. "I'm glad to have you on our side," he said. "If there's anything you want to bring with you, I suggest you grab it. Meet me at the hangar, and we'll commandeer a light-copter." So saying, the Renegade turned to make his way there.

"Wait!" said Paige. "Who am I talking to at the moment? Tron... or Beck?"

The Renegade gasped in surprise, and turned to face her again. "How did you...?"

"Dyson told me about Tron," said Paige. "And I recognised you when I watched your last fight with Tesler."

With a sigh, the Renegade collapsed his helmet, revealing Beck's face. "I guess watching that just confirmed the suspicions you've had for a while, huh?" Beck said with a weak smile.

Paige nodded. "The only reason I didn't say anything to Tesler was because I didn't have any solid evidence."

Beck nodded, and his helmet formed again. "We'd better get moving. We can talk more once we get to safety."

"Where are we going?" Paige asked as she activated her own helmet.

"There's a hideout in the Outlands that Tron and I have been using," said Beck. "That's where we're going."

"All right, just give me a second to grab a few things," said Paige, ducking into her room. She found a small box, and slid the picture that she, Rox and Linux had taken when the Gallium Hospital had first opened. The other thing she packed was her monome, the musical instrument she'd picked up in her days as a medic. With those packed, she left her room for the last time.

"I'm ready," she said.

"Good," said Beck. "We can make our way to the hangar through the air ducts."

Beck leaped up and grabbed the lip of the open vent. He pulled himself up, and held a hand out to Paige. She passed him the box, then climbed into the vent herself.

"I didn't realise the ducts were big enough to crawl through," she said.

"It's a tight fit, but it's manageable," said Beck. "These things are a maze, though. I just hope we don't get lost."

"How'd you find out about these ducts?" Paige asked as she crawled along.

"Tron told me about it," Beck replied. "But he never did tell me how he found out."

The two programs were silent as they made their way through the ducts. Fortunately, while they were cramped, none of the ducts were vertical.

"Okay," Beck said after a while. "If we drop down out of this vent, we'll land behind a recognizer. That should keep us hidden from the guards in the hangar."

Beck pulled the grate up, and dropped down from the vent. Paige followed, clutching the box she was carrying close to her chest, and the two programs ducked behind the recognizer.

On the other side of the recognizer, one of the guards walked up to a second guard, who was standing guard.

"Is it time for the shift change already?" asked the guard who was standing.

"Yeah," said the walking guard. "The energy in the second dispenser actually tastes pretty good right now."

"Thanks for the tip," said the first.

"Hey, what happened during the last shift?" asked the new guard. "I was in my rest cycle for the last millicycle."

"Well, Clu took a trip out to the wreckage of that massive recognizer," said the first guard. "He only took his personal guard and Dyson with him. He didn't look too happy when he came back."

"Wonder what he found?" asked the other guard.

The first guard shrugged. "Beats me. No-one tells us anything."

"That's true," said the second. "So what happened after that?"

"Not much," said the first. "Clu left about four hundred microcycles ago, and took about ten percent of the fleet he brought with him. After that, it's just been routine flights in and out."

"Right," said the second guard. "Well, you enjoy your off-shift. I'll see you in another millicycle or so."

"Yeah," said the first, walking away.

Beck glanced around the recognizer. "Only one guard?" he asked. "That seems sloppy."

"Nobody is expecting any trouble," said Paige. "They figured you wouldn't be brave enough to try anything with such a huge army here to stop you."

"That's exactly what I was counting on," said Beck. "If we take out the guard before he can raise the alarm, we'll be able to plant bombs on every vehicle in the hangar. That should reduce the pursuit force they can send after us."

"We'll have to be quick," said Paige. "Someone's bound to notice if the guard misses a report."

"How often do the guards have to report in?" Beck asked.

"Once every twenty-five microcycles," said Paige.

Beck surveyed the hangar, doing a quick count. "Sounds like we can clear the hangar in time. Do they keep any explosives in here?"

Paige nodded. "There's a few supply crates over there," she pointed at the crates in question. "Those crates should have enough charges in them to disable every vehicle in here."

"Then lets get to it," said Beck. Beck ran forward and tackled the guard. As the guard fell, he dropped his staff. Paige picked up the staff and slammed it into the guard's helmeted head, knocking him unconscious. With the guard down, Beck and Paige ran over to the crates and opened the lids. Beck pulled out a charge and fiddled with the settings. He then pulled out a detonator and synchronised the two.

"Sync all the charges with this detonator," Beck said. "That way, we can blow them all at once."

"Good idea," said Paige. She glanced at the detonator's display, then manually entered the frequency into the charge. With the charge armed, she planted it on a recognizer.

* * *

A short time later, Paige planted her last charge. Once the charge was set, she ran over to the light-copter Beck was standing by.

"All set?" Beck asked.

Paige nodded. "What did you do with my things?"

"They're right there," said Beck, pointing inside the copter.

"Good," said Paige, entering the cockpit. "Now, let's get out of here and blow those charges."

Paige collapsed her helmet and pressed a few buttons, and the copter's rotors began spinning. Paige took off, and guided the copter out of the hangar. Once they were out, Beck activated the detonator. The charges exploded, spraying heat and voxels in all directions. The shockwave of the combined explosions caused the copter to spin wildly, but Paige managed to maintain control.

"Which way are we going?" Paige asked.

"Just head out of Argon for now," Beck said, his hands gripping the back of her chair. "We'll set down somewhere and I'll get us to Tron's hideout."

"All right," said Paige, setting the copter in motion.

As the copter began to accelerate, red laser blasts began to fill the sky. Paige glanced over her shoulder, and saw a squadron of four light-jets pursuing her.

"Keep going," said Beck, drawing his baton. "I'll handle these guys."

"You're about to do something stupid, aren't you?" Paige asked.

"It's only stupid if I get myself derezzed," Beck replied.

"In that case, don't derez," said Paige.

"I won't," Beck said, before turning around and jumping out of the copter. As he fell, he activated the baton's light-jet function. Lines of light formed a wireframe around Beck, and solid metal began to form between those lines as the light-jet roared to life. Beck looped around behind Paige's pursuers and righted his jet before opening fire. His attacks blasted the wing off the lead pursuit jet, causing it to spiral out of control. The pilot leapt out of the falling jet and activated his wing-chute as Beck raced past him. Two of the light-jets pursuing Paige broke off and began looping around to engage Beck. The last of the four remained on Paige's tail. Paige spun her copter around and fired her weapons. Laser fire laced through the pursuing light-jet, and the jet exploded, spewing cubes into the snowy Outlands.

_Two down, two to go_, thought Beck.

Beck pulled back on the stick of his light-jet, pulling up sharply. He swung to the right, targeting one of the guards as he was in the middle of his loop. Beck opened fire, but his target pulled his jet to the side, dodging the attack. The other light-jet got behind Beck and opened fire. Beck killed his engines, and yanked his fighter to the left as he activated his light-wall. The guard couldn't pull out in time, and slammed into Beck's light-wall. Beck reactivated his jet's engines, and began to chase down the last enemy jet.

The final pursuer was targeting Paige, filling the air around her copter with deadly laser blasts. He was close behind her, so Beck dropped down below him, before pulling up and firing at his opponent's underside. His shots shredded the back of the jet, and the jet spiralled out of control, slamming into the light-copter.

"_Paige!_"

* * *

Paige growled as she wrestled with the unresponsive controls. Consoles sparked as severed wires brushed against each other, and sirens blared in her ears. Paige was quite aware that she was going to crash. Her only option was to make the crash survivable. She managed to tilt the copter so that the tail would slam into the ground first, rather than the cockpit. The ground was approaching fast, and Paige tried to shunt as much power to the propellers as she could. A quick glance at the altimeter confirmed that she was only seconds from hitting the ground. Paige took a deep breath and braced for impact. The tail slammed into the ground, and the front end soon followed. Paige was knocked out of her seat and slammed into the floor as the copter rolled. There was a sensation of weightlessness as the copter bounced from the initial impact, and Paige slammed into the windscreen. The copter slammed into the ground again, landing on its right side, and Paige's head slammed into the wall. She wasn't knocked unconscious, but she was stunned. Very slowly, the world came back into focus. Her blurry vision resolved into hanging cables that were spewing sparks, her ears began to register the ineffectual sirens that hadn't been silenced in the crash, and she began to feel a searing pain in her right leg. Weakly, Paige tried to pull herself into a sitting position, and that was when she glanced at where her right leg was... or rather, where her right leg should have been. A chunk of debris had come down and sliced through her leg just above the knee. Everything below that had turned into voxels that had scattered throughout the wreckage.

"Paige!" a voice screamed.

"Beck," Paige replied weakly.

Beck must have seen her, because he was by her side in an instant.

"Paige, I'm so sorry," he said. "It's my fault that light-jet-"

Paige was weak, but she managed to lightly slap Beck. "Don't blame yourself," she said. "You had no idea what that light-jet would do."

Beck glanced at her severed leg. "You're hurt," he whispered.

"Really," Paige said as a wave of dizziness hit her. "I hadn't noticed, bit-brain." Paige closed her eyes as the dizzy spell got worse. The dizziness was a sign of severe energy loss. Soon, she'd be incoherent and delirious, then she'd derez not long after that. She felt Beck place his hands on her cheeks, and gasped as she felt the dizziness clear instantly. She glanced at Beck, and noticed him shaking her head.

"How much energy did you just transfer to me?" she asked.

"Enough to keep you alive," said Beck.

Paige just nodded as she reached behind her back and pulled out her disc. She activated it, and a holographic display of her body appeared, with the lower half of her right leg highlighted in red. Paige began to move her fingers across the schematic, expertly adjusting things and altering lines of code easily. Once she finished, she glanced at the stump of her right leg. When she'd first looked, she'd noticed that the rest of her leg was slowly beginning to fall apart.

"That should prevent the damage from getting any worse," said Paige. "It'll take me a short time to set up the regeneration protocols... but I'll need to reboot for them to activate, and without a healing chamber, I have no idea how long it'll take."

"There's a healing chamber back at Tron's hideout," said Beck. "I just hope it's been repaired by now."

"...I'm not sure I want to know," said Paige.

Beck chuckled slightly, and moved to the back of the wreck. He opened the cargo compartment, and pulled out the box that had Paige's things in them.

"Looks like everything is still in one piece," he said, placing the box beside Paige.

"Thanks," said Paige as she continued fiddling with her disc.

There was silence between them for a few seconds, before Paige spoke up.

"Is it just me, or has this been too easy?" she asked.

"You're right, it _is_ too easy," said Beck. "Clu brought a whole army to Argon, and only four light-jets chased us. Either they're all really sloppy, or..."

"Or Dyson _wants_ us to escape," said Paige.

Beck grabbed Tesler's disc, and examined it closely. He grabbed something on the disc and pulled it off.

"A tracking device," said Beck. "Did you know about this?"

Paige shook her head. "Dyson must have planted it when he took the disc during my rest cycle."

Beck nodded, and tossed the tracker into the wreckage.

"You almost done?" Beck asked.

"Just a few more seconds," said Paige. "And... there! Done!"

"Good," said Beck. "I want to get out of here before more guards show up."

"How are we getting to Tron's hideout?" Paige asked.

Beck held up his baton. "Multi-purpose baton," he said. "I'll rez the cycle, and carry you and your things there."

Paige nodded, and held her disc in both hands. "Once I clip this to my back, I'll be rebooting for Flynn knows how long," she said.

"Maybe we should get you out of here before you do that," said Beck. "It'd be easier than dragging you from the wreckage."

"Good thinking," said Paige.

Beck knelt next to her, and looped her arm around his shoulder. Slowly, he pulled her up, and she placed her weight on her left foot. Beck and Paige carefully made their way out of the wrecked copter, and Beck laid her down on the snow that always gathered in the Argon Outlands. Slowly Paige closed her eyes and clipped her disc to her back. Once the disc locked into her socket, she collapsed.

Beck rezzed his light-cycle, and opened a small compartment in the side. He went back into the wreckage and retrieved Paige's box, and stuck it in the cargo compartment. Beck then pulled Paige over to the cycle. Once he had mounted the cycle, he pulled Paige up and draped her over his lap. He accelerated carefully and slowly. He didn't want Paige to fall off, after all...

* * *

Dyson stood in his office, gazing out his window at Argon City. There was a knock on his door.

"Come in," said Dyson pleasantly.

Pavel entered and cleared his throat. "Sir, the Renegade has boarded the flagship and destroyed all the vehicles in the hangar. He is currently escaping in a stolen light-copter."

"So soon?" Dyson asked. "I wasn't expecting him to come for at least another three millicycles."

"Sir?" Pavel asked in confusion.

"Order four light-jets to pursue him," said Dyson. "Tell everyone else to stand down."

"What? But, sir, we could easily-"

"Are your auditory circuits malfunctioning, or was I unclear?" asked Dyson. "I gave you instructions, I expect you to carry them out!"

"Yes, sir!" said Pavel. Pavel ran outside and activated the intercom, relaying Dyson's orders through to the guards. Once he finished, he returned to Dyson's office.

"You are, no doubt, confused by this choice, yes?" Dyson asked, still looking out over Argon.

"Yes, sir, I am," said Pavel.

"It's simple, really," said Dyson. "The Renegade is after Tesler's disc. With that disc, he could find out everything Tesler knew about the Occupation... including Tesler's permissions for the network."

Upon hearing Pavel's shocked gasp, Dyson laughed. "Don't worry, I've already removed his permissions from the network, and I wasn't planning on going through with any of his plans. I also planted a tracking device on the disc. The Renegade will lead us straight to his base."

"Oh," said Pavel. "Very clever, sir."

"Excuse me, sirs," said a guard from outside. "I've just received word from a Black Guard that was stationed near Paige's quarters. He says that he was attacked by the Renegade, and when he awoke, Paige was no longer in her quarters, and there were signs that some of her belongings had been taken."

Pavel frowned. "Has she been taken hostage by the Renegade? That's not his style."

"No, it's not," said Dyson. "And if some of her belongings are gone, that wouldn't make sense. I think it's far more likely that she defected."

"Defected?" asked Pavel. "Why would she defect?"

"Oh, I can think of a few reasons," said Dyson, realising that Paige had seen Tesler's memories of the Gallium Massacre. "In either case, she is now a liability. Remove her permissions from the network immediately!"

"Yes, sir!" Pavel turned to leave, but halted when Dyson called his name.

"One last thing before you go," Dyson said. "Pull one of your stunts on me, and I'll leave your cubes scattered from here to the capital. Do we have an understanding?"

Pavel swallowed fearfully. "Y-yes sir," he stammered.

"Good," said Dyson cheerfully. "Off you go, then."

As Pavel exited his office, Dyson sat at his desk and activated the holographic display. He watched as the red dot that represented the tracker blinked. After watching it for five microcycles, he realised that it was no longer moving. Either the Renegade had crashed, and was dead... or he'd discovered the tracking device and removed it. Dyson growled as he activated a communications channel.

"I want recognizers dispatched to the following coordinates," said Dyson. He then listed the coordinates of the tracker. "Find out what happened there, and begin sweeping the area for any signs of life."

Dyson sighed and closed the channel. If Tron had a base in the Outlands, it would probably be hidden from sensors. Not only that, but the Outlands were vast; Dyson had no idea which direction to search in, nor how far out he had to go. A sweep of the entire Outlands would require far more manpower, and cost far too much in terms of resources, and the price wasn't really worth it. He wasn't looking forward to reporting this to Clu...

* * *

Beck placed a hand on the glass of the healing chamber. Paige was still unconscious, and was being suspended in the white plasma by straps that looped under her arms.

"Are you sure we can trust her?" Tron asked.

"I think so," said Beck. "She did help me blow up all those vehicles, and even shot down one of the light-jets."

"She could still be a spy," said Tron. "She might have been given free reign to do whatever's necessary by Dyson."

"I doubt it," said Beck. "She sounded really bitter when she said that she found that Tesler wasn't who she thought he was."

Tron grunted. "I'll keep an eye on her. Just in case."

Beck was silent for a second. "Paige knew how to repair her leg," he said. "That's more than just basic combat medicine. That kind of knowledge requires medical programming."

"How did a _medic_ end up as Tesler's right-hand woman?" Tron asked.

Beck just shrugged. "So, any luck with your projects?"

"Yes, actually," said Tron. "Zed and Mara are doing pretty well in their training, and we've managed to build rooms for everyone here. I've even received word from a resistance movement in Bismuth City."

"Well, I know what I'm doing next," said Beck.

Tron rested a hand on Beck's shoulder. "You should get some rest first. It's a long drive to Bismuth, and the Bismuth rebels will need some convincing to join us."

Beck nodded. "I'll be ready."

* * *

A helmeted female program was sitting at a desk in a rather run-down room. Working in the slums of Bismuth was not something that made her happy, but it was the only place where they could actually set up and not be found by the Occupation. A second female program entered the room.

"We've just received word from Argon," she said. "The Renegade is on his way here to meet us. He should be here in about three hundred and fifty microcycles."

The seated program nodded. "Thank you," she said.

Once the second program had left, the seated program activated a hologram. It was a blurry picture of the Renegade that had been smuggled into Bismuth. Despite the low quality, the T-shaped emblem on the program's chest was still clearly visible.

The female program collapsed her helmet, revealing long blond hair, and as she did so, her black suit with minimal circuit lines began to shift into a white suit. White lines lit up, and a dark blue triangle appeared on her chest, with a semi-circle of the same colour spreading from the base of the triangle to her shoulders.

"Are you _really_ Tron?" Yori whispered, almost daring to hope. "Are you really still alive?"

* * *

As far as I know, a program's identity disc can only be destroyed in a few ways. Of course, Dyson probably would have destroyed Tesler's disc, if he hadn't realised that it would be very good bait. Of course, that also lead to Paige discovering the truth about the death of her friends, which leads to her defection. Oops.

Speaking of which, there are quite possibly other 'massacres' carried out by the Occupation that were blamed on the ISOs, just to make the ISOs look bad. Of course, some ISOs may have actually gone on rampages, which wouldn't exactly help. Another thing about that scene, only one of Paige's friends, the female program Rox, is identified by name during Isolated. I gave the male program the name Linux... for no real reason (I'm terrible when it comes to naming things).

Yes, the classic Air Vent Passageway. I reckon Flynn designed all the ducts on the Grid to be big enough to crawl through, _just in case_ he ended up in a situation that would require him to use the ducts for that very purpose.

And yeah, Paige is going to be out for most of next episode. It's a very good thing she's a medic. Her medical programming will also be an advantage for the resistance; after all, they can't exactly go to the local hospital if they get hurt, can they?

And be honest, did you really expect _her_ to appear at the end? This next episode is gonna be _fun_...

Speaking of which, next episode is The Resistance, Part III. Beck travels to Bismuth City to convince the Bismuth Rebels to join him. Of course, their leader won't be too pleased to find out that Tron isn't the one behind that faceplate...

-ShortyBoss.


	3. The Resistance, Part III

Here's the final part of The Resistance. With that, the season première is out of the way. This one is a bit shorter than the two previous chapters, but not by much.

* * *

Accessing archived data...

_Paige learns a horrifying truth..._

_..."No," Paige whispered, tears beginning to form in her eyes. "No, it can't be true. It can't be..."_

_The video continued to play, and despite Paige's desperate pleading, she knew it was true... Paige deactivated Tesler's identity disc, burying her face in her hands as sobs wracked her body..._

...And makes a life-changing decision.

_"...Tesler wasn't the man I thought he was," Paige spat bitterly._

_The Renegade deactivated Tesler's disc, and attached it to his hip. "You'll be branded a traitor for helping me," he said._

_"I know," said Paige. "Which is why I'm going with you..."_

Dyson's hunt for Tron begins...

_"...I want recognizers dispatched to the following coordinates," said Dyson. He then listed the coordinates of the tracker. "Find out what happened there, and begin sweeping the area for any signs of life..."_

...And Beck leaves to meet with an old friend of Tron's.

_...The female program collapsed her helmet, revealing long blond hair, and as she did so, her black suit with minimal circuit lines began to shift into a white suit. White lines lit up, and a dark blue triangle appeared on her chest, with a semi-circle of the same colour spreading from the base of the triangle to her shoulders._

_"Are you really Tron?" Yori whispered, almost daring to hope..._

* * *

Beck, wearing the white suit that marked him as the Renegade, derezzed his light-cycle. He was currently in the slums of Bismuth City, waiting to meet with someone from the local resistance.

"You don't see many programs in white these days," a voice said from behind him.

Beck spun around, reaching for his disc. A helmeted female program was standing a few metres away, her arms folded across her chest.

"Those that do wear white are either Sirens... or Renegades," said the female.

"You're my contact with the Bismuth rebels?" Beck asked.

The female nodded, and Beck relaxed slightly. "So, where are we going?" he asked.

The female turned and began walking away. "Follow me," she said.

She led Beck through the slums, and stopped in front of an old, dilapidated warehouse.

"Nice place," Beck muttered.

"It's not ideal, but the guards don't patrol the slums very often," said the female. "It serves its purpose well enough."

She opened the door, and led Beck inside. Beck spotted several programs, both males and females. They were all wearing their helmets.

"I see you guys like your privacy," said Beck.

Beck's guide didn't answer his question. She just stood there watching him, and Beck began to wonder if something had gone wrong.

"When do I get to see who's in charge?"

One of the assembled programs snorted with laughter at Beck's question.

The female program who'd led him to the warehouse walked over to a side room and opened the door.

"In here," she said.

"Okay," said Beck slowly. Beck walked through the door. Apart from the desk, the room was empty. As the door clicked shut behind him, Beck began to turn around. That was when the female program slammed him into the desk and held her disc to his throat.

"Who are you, and what have you done to Tron?!" she snarled.

* * *

**TRON: Uprising**

**The Resistance, Part III**

* * *

"Wh-what are you talking about?" Beck asked, struggling against his attacker.

"Don't play dumb with me!" she snarled. "You might look the part, but your voice sounds _nothing_ like Tron's, and your helmet is the wrong shape."

"You expect me to believe that you can identify Tron through his voice and helmet shape?" Beck asked.

"Yes," said the female. "That's the other part of the reason I know you're not Tron."

The female program collapsed her helmet, revealing her blond hair. Her suit rippled as it shifted from black to white, and a dark blue triangle lit up in the centre of her chest, and a semi-circle spread from the base of the triangle up to her shoulders.

"Tron would've recognized _me_," she said, pressing her disc harder against Beck's throat.

"You're from the Old System," Beck whispered in shock.

"That's right," said the female. "Now tell me who you are!"

"Alright, _alright_!" Beck collapsed his helmet. "My name's Beck. I used to be a mechanic in Argon."

"Where did you get that suit?!" his attacker asked.

"Tron gave it to me," said Beck. "When I became the Renegade."

"You expect me to believe that?"

"Let me go, and I'll show you," Beck said.

The female was silent for a few seconds. She then pulled her disc away from his throat, and allowed Beck to stand up.

"Try anything funny, and you won't live long enough to regret it," she said.

"I'll keep that in mind," said Beck as he reached behind his back and pulled out his disc. Beck activated his disc, and began to play a recent memory file. The female took the disc from his hands, and watched the video warily.

In the video, Beck, wearing his normal black grid-suit, was using a multitool to make repairs to a light-jet.

"Everything still in one piece?" a voice from off-screen asked, and the female gasped in shock.

The video-Beck turned around to greet the new arrival. "Yeah, I was just making a few repairs. I took some hits during that last escape. Nothing too bad, but it could get worse if I didn't fix it."

"Right," said Tron. "So how are you planning on getting to Bismuth?"

"I was gonna go by light-cycle," said Beck. "It'll take longer, but it'll attract less attention than flying there."

Tron nodded.

"Um... how's Paige?" Beck asked.

"Well, her leg's finished healing, and she's out of the tank. She's still unconscious though, so we moved her to one of the new rooms. Mara's keeping an eye on her."

"Okay," said Beck.

Tron reached behind his back and pulled out his disc. He twisted the bottom half off and passed it to Beck. "Here, you'll need this," Tron said.

The female program paused the video, and sank to her knees as tears began to form in her eyes.

"He's alive," she whispered, clutching Beck's disc to her chest. "Oh, thank Lora-3, he's _alive_."

Beck felt rather awkward standing there watching, and cleared his throat nervously. The female program got back to her feet, wiping her eyes as she passed Beck his disc back.

"I, uh... I guess you and Tron were fairly close, huh?" said Beck.

The female program nodded. "Yes, I guess you could say that," she said. "My name is Yori, by the way."

"I assume you're the leader of this group?" Beck asked.

Yori nodded. "We've got a lot to talk about."

* * *

The first thing Paige became aware of was that she was lying down. She was on a bed, a rather uncomfortable one, at that. Still, it was an improvement over the snow of the Outlands, which was the last thing she remembered. Still keeping her eyes closed, Paige moved her right foot experimentally. Thankfully, her leg had finished regenerating, so she was rewarded with the feeling of her heel moving against fabric. Beck had mentioned that Tron had a hideout in the Outlands. Hopefully, he had taken her there.

Paige opened her eyes and sat up slowly. A quick glance at her legs confirmed that her right leg had healed completely. She then began to study the room. The room was fairly small, and the only thing in it was the bed she had slept on.

"Hey, you're awake," said a voice from the doorway.

Paige turned her head, and saw a female program with blue hair walking in, carrying a glass full of liquid energy.

"Here," said the program, passing Paige the glass. "You look like you could use a drink."

"Thanks," said Paige, accepting the glass. She forced herself to drink the life-giving liquid slowly, which also gave her a chance to get a better look at the female program. She was a familiar face; Paige remembered seeing her at Able's Garage several times.

Paige swallowed one last mouthful, and passed the empty glass back. "Mara, right?"

"Yeah, that's my name," said Mara, taking the glass back. Mara stood up, and began to walk out the door with the glass.

"I'm sorry about Able," said Paige.

Mara stopped in the doorway. "You mean that," she whispered, sounding almost confused.

Paige nodded. "Not every program in the Occupation was a heartless monster," she said. "Only the important ones were," she added quietly.

Mara was silent for a few seconds before she spoke again. "Well, now that you're awake, Tron wants to speak with you," she said. "He should be down here soon."

"I'll wait for him, then," said Paige.

"You won't have to wait for long, then," said a voice from around the corner. Mara backed into the room, and allowed a male program to walk in.

"Tron," Paige whispered in awe.

The program in question nodded. "Thanks for keeping an eye on Paige for me," he said, glancing at Mara. "Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to have a private chat with our guest."

Mara nodded, and left the room. The door shut behind her, and Tron leaned against the wall opposite Paige.

"So, why'd you do it?" Tron asked. "What made you want to change sides?"

Paige swallowed the lump that had risen in her throat. "I found out the truth," she said. "The truth about the Gallium Massacre."

Tron simply nodded, and waited for her to continue.

"I used to be a medic," Paige said. "I worked at the Gallium City General Hospital. One day, two programs arrived that needed medical treatment. After I treated them, I found out that they were ISOs."

"What were their names?" Tron asked. "The ISOs."

"One of them was named Ada," said Paige. "She was the one who was injured. The uninjured ISO was named Quorra."

"Quorra?" Tron asked. "She's not the kind to commit mass murder."

"You knew Quorra?" Paige said.

"I knew her well enough," said Tron. "But we're not talking about me. We're talking about you."

Paige nodded, and resumed her tale. "As the ISOs were leaving, Occupation forces began to arrive. Quorra knocked me out. When I woke up, Tesler found me, and he told me that the ISOs had murdered everyone."

"I think I know where this is going," said Tron. "The Occupation troops murdered all those programs, and then blamed it on the ISOs to make the rumours seem true."

"I found out the truth when I accessed Tesler's identity disc," said Paige. "I found his memories of the massacre, and I saw... I saw..." Paige's mouth went dry, and she tried to swallow.

Tron walked up to her, and gently placed a hand on her shoulder. "You don't have to say anything else," said Tron.

Paige nodded, and took several deep breaths to calm herself down. She brushed a hand against her eyes, wiping away the tears that had formed.

"I can understand why you wanted to leave the Occupation," Tron said. "But what made you want to join the resistance?"

"It was a decision I made on the spot, really," said Paige. "By giving Beck the disc and letting him go, I'd be branded a traitor and be thrown in the Games... or worse. Going with him seemed like the best option at the time."

"So it was a matter of convenience?" said Tron.

Paige shook her head. "I think that, even if I had just escaped from the flagship, I would probably have ended up in the resistance at some point. Meeting the Renegade just accelerated the process, I guess."

Tron nodded. "One more question. Did you know anything about the tracking device on Tesler's disc?"

"No," said Paige. "I didn't. Dyson took the disc from my quarters while I was resting, so he could examine Tesler's memories for anything he deemed important."

"I see," said Tron. "Unfortunately, Tesler's disc hasn't been as helpful as we'd hoped. It seems that his permissions have been removed from the Occupation's network."

Paige reached behind her back and took out her disc. "Would you like to try my permissions?" she asked.

Tron shook his head. "Knowing Dyson, he's probably removed your permissions from the network as well. He never was one to take chances with security."

"Dyson said you two used to work together," said Paige.

"That's right," said Tron. "And before you ask, I don't want to talk about what happened between us. Not yet."

"I understand," said Paige.

Tron nodded, and crossed his arms. "Well, everything you've said makes sense," he said. "But I'm still not sure if I should trust you or not. Beck thinks you're trustworthy, and I'm inclined to believe him, however, you have been a member of the Occupation for some time."

Tron sighed. "I'll be keeping an eye on you. Hopefully, you won't give me any reason to try and derez you." Tron opened the door to leave.

"Where's Beck?" Paige asked.

"He's off on a mission," said Tron. "Before he left, he left a box under your bed; said it had things you brought with you when you left Tesler's flagship. I didn't find anything dangerous in there, so I'm letting you have it."

"Thank you," said Paige.

Tron nodded, and exited the room. Once the door closed behind him, she reached under the bed and grabbed the box. Placing it on the bed beside her, she pulled out two items. The first was a picture of Paige and her friends. She slid the picture back into the box, and turned her attention to the second item. It was a musical instrument called a monome. She'd picked it up a long time ago, and had taught herself how to play. Paige began tapping the buttons on the monome, and a tune began to play, one she'd composed when she was a medic...

* * *

"Sir?"

Dyson glanced up at the Black Guard that had entered his chambers. "What is it?"

"I have the final report from the survey team in the Outlands," said the Guard.

Dyson nodded, and leaned back. "Let's hear it."

"A thorough examination of the crashed light-copter revealed that the vehicle was badly damaged when one of the pursuing light-jets rammed it. The light-copter then crashed tail-first, before bouncing into the air and rolling onto it's side."

"Did the pilot of the light-jet try a suicide attack, or was he flying out of control?" asked Dyson.

"An analysis of the identity discs of the derezzed Guards would indicate the latter," said the Black Guard. "As far as can be determined, the last member of the pursuit force was attacked from below by a light-jet that was created by a second program that had jumped out of the light-copter. The attack derezzed the Guard, and he crashed into the light-copter."

"I see," said Dyson. "I assume the Renegade was the one flying the enemy light-jet."

"That is correct," said the Black Guard. "Voxels were found in the wreckage of the light-copter. Judging by the location and amount of voxels, we believe that a program suffered a non-fatal leg amputation."

"Hmm," Dyson muttered. "If a program had suffered an amputation, they would be leaking cubes as they travelled, until they eventually derezzed... unless they had on-site treatment."

"Agreed, sir," said the Black Guard. "Forensic analysis of the voxels indicates that a female program's right leg was amputated just above the knee, and that a small amount of the thigh had begun to deresolve by the time the injury was treated."

"And that knowledge requires being programmed as a medic," said Dyson. "I think we can safely assume that Paige has turned traitor."

"A warrant has been prepared, sir," said the Black Guard, handing Dyson his disc. "Once you have approved it, we can issue it at your command."

Dyson accepted the disc, and briefly studied the warrant. "Everything seems to be in order," he said. "Go ahead and issue it."

"Yes, sir," said the Black Guard.

"Anything else?" asked Dyson.

"The survey team found a single light-cycle track leaving the wreckage," said the Black Guard. "The trail led across the Outlands in a wild bit chase, with several twists and turns. After following the trail for some time, fresh snow had obscured the trail."

"Unsurprising," said Dyson. "The Renegade presumably knows the terrain well." Dyson paused. "Were there any survivors from the pursuit team?"

"Just one, sir," said the Black Guard. "He has been reassigned to the Games, and will participate for fifty millicycles, or until his deresolution."

"Very good," said Dyson. "Dismissed."

"Yes, sir."

Once the Black Guard had left, Dyson grimaced. He was beginning to understand why Tesler had so much trouble with the Renegade.

A soft beep and a flashing light on Dyson's desk caught his attention. He pressed a button and activated the intercom.

"Yes?"

"Sir, you are being contacted by your spy in the Bismuth Rebels," said the Guard on the other end.

"Patch him through," said Dyson.

A hologram depicting a helmeted male program appeared above Dyson's desk.

"What do you think you're doing?!" Dyson snarled. "Are you trying to blow your cover?!"

"My cover's not gonna last much longer anyways," said the spy. "The Renegade is here, and he's discussing an alliance with our leader."

"Any luck determining the identity of the leader?" Dyson asked.

"No sir," said the spy. "She keeps her helmet on almost all the time. The only program who has seen her face is Ada, her second in command."

"I see," said Dyson. "Where are you?"

"Sending you the coordinates," said the spy. "Stand by."

Dyson activated the screen on his desk, and a series of numbers appeared.

"Coordinates received," said Dyson. "Now get out before you're-"

"Hey!" said a female voice from off-screen. "Who are... you're a spy!"

The spy turned around, drawing his disc. However, he was too slow. The female program's disc sliced through his chest, and the spy derezzed, and the hologram dissolved into a shower of static.

Dyson growled, and activated the intercom again.

"Contact the leader of the garrison in Bismuth," he said. "Tell him that the Bismuth Rebels and the Renegade are at the coordinates provided at the end of the message. I want those programs alive if possible. If that isn't possible, derez them."

* * *

"How are we supposed to get to Tron's hideout?" asked Yori.

"The easiest way would be to leave Bismuth by light-cycle," said Beck. "Stick to the roads until we near Argon, then we head into the Outlands and head to Tron's hideout."

"And how do you propose we move a large group of programs without attracting attention?" asked Yori.

"We could leave in small groups," said Beck. "We rendezvous outsite Bismuth, and-"

The door was slammed open, and Beck and Yori rezzed their helmets instinctively as a female program entered.

"We've got a problem," said the female. "A spy just contacted the Occupation and sent them our coordinates."

"I assume the spy is derezzed?" asked Yori.

The female program nodded. "Here's his disc." She held up the spy's identity disc.

"Who did he contact?" asked Beck.

The female activated the disc and played the most recent memory file. Beck recognised the face of the Occupation program immediately.

"Dyson," Beck muttered.

"Who's Dyson?" asked Yori.

"Bad news," said Beck. "We have to get out of here, now!"

Yori nodded. "Ada, tell everyone to scatter and go into hiding. Once they're clear, tell them to head to Argon. We'll find them once they arrive."

The helmeted female, Ada, nodded and left the room.

Beck turned to Yori. "_We'll_ find them?" he asked.

Yori nodded. "I'm going with you," she said. "I need to see Tron."

"I understand," said Beck. The two programs ran out of the room, and almost ran into Ada.

"The evacuation has begun," said Ada. "But we might be too late. Occupation forces are already arriving."

"We'll have to fight our way out," said Yori. "Ada, you're coming with Beck and myself. We're heading to Tron's hideout in Argon."

"Wait, why's Ada coming?" asked Beck.

"I don't think we should..." Yori began, but trailed off when Ada held up a hand. Ada rolled down the top of her right sleeve, revealing a hexagonal mark with a small T shape under it.

Beck gasped. "An _ISO_? I thought they were all derezzed."

"We might as well be," said Ada bitterly. "I don't know if any other ISOs have survived this long."

"We can talk about this later," said Yori as the low thrum of a recognizer's jets filled the air. "We have to go!"

"Right," said Beck. The three programs ran outside, and saw the Occupation forces arriving. Heavily armored Guards charged with their staffs at the ready, and lightly armored Sentries moved towards them. One of the Bismuth Rebels threw his disc at a Sentry, and the Sentry collapsed into a pile of cubes. Three more Rebels joined the first, attacking the Guards.

"Go!" yelled one of the Rebels. "Get out of-_augh_!" The Rebel screamed as she was derezzed, and the Guards and Sentries surrounded the three surviving Rebels.

"Come on!" yelled Beck, rezzing his light-cycle. Yori and Ada rezzed their cycles as well, and followed after him.

Three Black Guards leapt off of the recognizer and activated their wing-chutes. As they got close to the ground, they derezzed their chutes and rezzed their light-cycles, giving chase to Beck, Yori and Ada.

Beck activated his light-wall, and swung in front of one of the Black Guards. Beck's opponent matched the move and activated his own light-wall. Beck drew his disc and braked. He tried to slam his disc into his opponent's cycle, but the Black Guardsman anticipated the move, and blocked the attack with his own disc. The Guard then kicked the back of Beck's cycle, and Beck slowed down as he tried to keep his balance. The Black Guard accelerated and swung around in front of Beck. Beck derezzed his cycle and rolled as he hit the ground. He jumped over the light-wall and rezzed his light-cycle again. Beck then threw his disc at the back wheel of his opponent's cycle. The disc tore a chunk out of the light-cycle, and it began to degrade into red cubes that splashed across the Bismuth streets.

Ada looped around and drove at her pursuer. The Black Guard drew his disc, and prepared to slice her as she drove past. At the last second, she pulled of a sharp turn, her light-wall blocking the Guardsman's path. He screamed as his cycle slammed into the wall, sending voxels flying in all directions as he was derezzed.

Yori braked as her opponent drove past her, his dark orange light-wall blocking her path. She turned and went in the opposite direction to the Black Guard. She looked over her shoulder, and saw that the Black Guard had turned around, and was now following her. The sound of a second light-cycle's engine caught her attention. Beck pulled up beside her and drew his disc.

"When I say so, throw your disc at the pipe up ahead," said Beck. "I'll cut through the right side, you take the left."

Yori drew her own disc and nodded. The two programs continued towards the pipe, and the Black Guardsman began to catch up.

"Now!" Beck yelled.

Beck and Yori threw their discs, and the cutting edges cleaved through the pipe. Energy began to spew out of the severed ends of the pipes, and shards sparkled in the air as they fell. Beck and Yori made it past the pipe before it hit the ground, but Yori was grazed by a piece of shrapnel. The Guardsman wasn't so lucky. The pipe came down on the front of his light-cycle, flipping him over the pipe as his cycle disintegrated into cubes.

Beck and Yori were soon joined by Ada, and the three programs pulled into a nearby alleyway, where they derezzed their cycles.

"Only three Black Guards?" asked Beck. "I was expecting more than that."

"The garrison here is small," said Ada. "The last time we checked, there were only about a hundred Sentries and Guards, with only a single recognizer and those three Black Guards."

"Why is the Occupation presence here so small?" asked Beck.

"Two reasons," said Yori. "Most of the local garrison forces were dispatched to Argon City some time ago, to deal with you and Tron. The other reason is that we stuck to covert actions that couldn't be pinned down as acts of organised rebellion, such as theft and sabotage that seemed more like mechanical failures."

"Yori, you're hurt," said Ada.

Yori glanced at her side. A very thin glowing line cut across her midsection, just below her ribcage.

"It's not bad," said Yori. "Hopefully I can get it healed when we reach Argon."

"Yeah, we can heal it," said Beck. "There's a healing chamber in Tron's hideout, and a former medic recently joined us."

"We'd better get moving, then," said Yori. "Lead the way, Beck."

* * *

Pavel pressed a button on the console he was standing at. A hologram of Dyson shimmered into existence in front of him.

"We're approaching Bismuth City now, sir," said Pavel. "I've ordered my forces to split up and set up checkpoints at each of Bismuth's exit points. There are also recognizers sweeping the borders of the city. The Renegade and the Bismuth Rebels will not evade us."

"Make sure they don't," said Dyson. "And take extra care apprehending the Renegade. He may not be Tron, but he's just as dangerous. Overwhelm him with sheer numbers."

"Yes sir," said Pavel. "I've also received a preliminary report from the garrison commander. He has retrieved the spy's disc, and has determined that, apart from the spy and the Renegade, there were twelve members of the Bismuth Rebels, all of whom were present when the attack was launched."

"I see," said Dyson. "What's the status of the members of the Rebels?"

"Three members have been captured, and three have escaped," said Pavel. "Six Rebels were derezzed during the attack. The Renegade has also escaped."

"Unsurprising," said Dyson. "The Renegade is very good at evading us. Apart from him, have you identified any of the rebels?"

"Not yet," said Pavel. "The station commander has not checked the discs of the derezzed or captured Rebels. However, we are fairly certain that the leader of the Rebels and her second in command are two of the three Rebels that have evaded us."

"Find them, Pavel," said Dyson. "If they escape they could rally more programs to their cause."

"Understood, sir," said Pavel.

"Still, it's not all bad," said Dyson. "Half of the group is dead, and a quarter are in our custody. The current rebellion is in tatters, and once word gets out, other programs will think twice before defying the Occupation."

"That's true," said Pavel. "And what would you like done with the captives?"

"Judging by my spy's reports, the Bismuth Rebels kept their identities secret from each other," said Dyson. "I doubt we can find any useful information from them." Dyson paused briefly, then continued. "Have the captives brought to Argon. I want them in the Games in six millicycles."

* * *

Beck braked, and Yori and Ada pulled up alongside him.

"What's wrong?" asked Yori.

"Reinforcements," said Beck. "Dyson must have sent them when that spy reported."

"How'd they get here so fast?" asked Ada.

"A recognizer's top speed is much faster than a light-cycle, although the high speeds make them less maneuverable," said Yori. "They also aren't restricted to the roads. It is possible they could reach Bismuth from Argon in this amount of time."

"Are you sure about that?" Beck asked.

Yori laughed, sounding slightly bitter. "Of course I'm sure. I helped design them."

Stunned, Beck turned to face Yori. "You mean... you worked with Flynn?"

Yori nodded. "I helped him design quite a few things during the early days of the Grid," she said. "Mostly by modifying code copied over from the ENCOM servers into improved models."

Yori cleared her throat. "We should focus on getting out of here, though."

"Right, right," said Beck, turning back to face the recognizers. "It looks like they're setting up checkpoints at all the exit points, and they've got patrols around the borders. If we're fast enough, we should be able to make it between sweeps."

Beck revved his cycle's engine, and drove towards the recognizers. Yori and Ada were close behind him.

"Wait for it, wait for it," said Beck. He watched the recognizers flying in their patrol pattern, and waited until one was almost level with them.

"Now!" he yelled, and gunned the cycle. He shot under the recognizer, and Yori and Ada followed soon after. Beck glanced over his shoulder. The recognizer continued on its sweep, seemingly oblivious to the three programs that had just snuck past it. He then glanced back at the two programs following him. Yori was beginning to slow down, and Ada was slowing her own pace to stay with Yori. Beck slowed down, and allowed Ada and Yori to catch up.

"What's wrong?" Beck asked.

"Yori's injury is getting worse," said Ada.

"I'll make it to Argon," said Yori. "We can't stop now."

* * *

"What if we do this?" said Zed, modifying the plan he was observing.

"That wouldn't work," said Mara. "It'll weaken the structural support of that wall, and could cause the whole room to collapse."

"How about we move the door over to _this_ point?" said Link slowly, pointing to another point. "That should keep all the walls stable, right?"

The mechanics observed the plans carefully.

"I'm no architect, but I think Link's right," said Dash. "Do you think Tron will allow us to test it with the training room?"

"Test what, exactly?" asked Tron as he walked up to them.

"We're designing a proper workshop," said Zed. "So that we can work on all our vehicles at once, instead of one at a time in Beck's little makeshift one."

Tron nodded. "You still haven't told me what you want to test."

"We want to make sure that the room won't collapse when we build it," said Copper. "Can we test it with the training room?"

"I don't see why not," said Tron. "It might take a bit of fiddling around to code it properly, but we should be able to do it. Mind if I have a look?"

"Sure," said Mara. "Maybe we should test both ideas, then see which is better."

Dash nodded. "And with a simulated version, we could figure out any other problems and fix them before we make the real thing, couldn't we?"

"You could," said Tron. "The real trick will be programming the training room properly. I'll get to work on it now."

Tron made his way to the main room, followed by the other programs. He activated the holographic display, and began coding the parametres for the new simulation. Mara glanced out the window, and gazed out at the Argon skyline. She then looked down, and saw three glowing lights approaching slowly.

"Hey, I think Beck's back!" she said. "And it looks like he brought some friends."

Zed looked out the window. "They're travelling rather slowly," he said. "And that lead bike is wobbling pretty crazily. Think it might be damaged?"

"If it was damaged, Beck could've repaired it," said Tron. "I think the driver may be injured. I'm going down to meet them. Mara, can you get Paige and bring her to the entrance?"

"Why do you want Paige?" Mara asked.

"Paige was programmed as a medic," Tron said. "She can help us out."

"I thought you didn't trust her," said Mara.

"First of all, you shouldn't have eavesdropped," said Tron. "And secondly, I said I wasn't sure if I should trust her or not. If she's willing to help us, that'll go a long way to proving her loyalty."

"Alright," said Mara. "I'll meet you down there."

* * *

Tron entered the small hangar as the three light-cycles pulled in. Beck was the last to enter and was the first to dismount his cycle, not even bothering to shut the engine off as he raced towards the program who was on the lead cycle. Beck gently tried to pull the program off her cycle, and as he did so, Tron saw a very familiar design on her chest, and a cold spike of fear ran through him.

"_Yori!_" Tron screamed as he ran forward.

The female collapsed her helmet, and Yori raised her head. Her face was pale from energy loss, and she was breathing heavily.

"Tr... Tron?" she whispered.

Tron helped Beck lift Yori off the light-cycle, and Tron saw the glowing blue energy that had soaked the cycle. Yori weakly lifted up a hand to caress Tron's face, and Tron tried to ignore the fact that her hand was covered in energy.

"I thought you were dead, but you're alive," Yori whispered. "They... they haven't built a... a circuit that could hold you..."

"What's she talking about?" Beck asked.

"She's delirious," said Paige as she entered, followed closely by Mara. "It's a sign of severe energy loss. If she doesn't receive an energy transfer _now_, she will derez in ten to twelve microcycles."

"Got it," said Tron. He cupped his hands around Yori's cheeks, and Yori's face became noticeably less pale. Paige took Yori's disc and accessed it. Her fingers moved expertly as she examined and repaired the sections of damaged code.

"Okay," Paige said as she returned Yori's disc to its proper place. "She'll need to reboot for the regeneration process to start. If we put her in the healing chamber, she should heal in about two hundred microcycles."

A short time later, Beck and Tron gently pushed Yori into the healing chamber. Tron slid Yori's arms through the straps to keep her in place while she was unconscious.

"You and Yori are close, aren't you?" Beck quietly asked Tron.

"'_Close_' is something of an understatement," said Tron. "I love her."

Paige was standing over by the plasma monitor nearby. She adjusted a few things, then nodded in satisfaction.

"She should make a complete recovery," said Paige. "If you'd gotten here even two microcycles later, she might have died."

Tron sighed in relief. "You have my thanks, Paige," he said. "If Yori had died, I... I don't know what I would've done." Tron then noticed that the other program that had been with Beck was also in the room.

"I take it you're a friend of Yori's?" Tron asked.

The female nodded. "My name is Ada. I was second in command of the Bismuth Rebels," she said. She then pulled down her sleeve to reveal the mark on her arm. "I'm also an-"

"ISO," Paige whispered, staring wide-eyed at Ada.

"Yes, I..." Ada trailed off as she looked at Paige. Ada then gasped.

"Paige?" Ada asked.

* * *

Beck's voice is still recognisable as Beck's, despite the modulation he uses. His helmet is also completely different to Tron's. Tron's helmet is, perhaps unsurprisingly, almost identical to Rinzler's helmet in Legacy.

The main reason Tron doesn't quite trust Paige is because he has been betrayed quite a few times in the past. First Clu, then Dyson, then Cyrus... that many betrayals in a relatively short time period would be an easy way to give a security program trust issues.

About the only way an Occupation spy could infiltrate a resistance movement without someone noticing their behaviour is off would be to either join the Occupation willingly, or be repurposed by the repurposing device in the super recognizer. I believe that recognizer had a prototype repurposing unit onboard, one that would make the repurposed program blindly loyal to Clu without affecting their personality. That would explain how a repurposed Cutler was able to fool Beck at the start of Terminal.

Despite what Clu would say, the Purge was not perfect. Any ISOs who did survive would've scattered to the far corners of the Grid. Those that did survive were probably unaware of other survivors, and all of them would believe they were the last ISO. And believe me when I say I have a plan for those three captured Rebels, as well as for that other escapee...

And, yeah, Tron and Yori did not get the happy reunion most of you were probably hoping for. It's coming in the next episode, I swear to Flynn.

Speaking of the next episode, it is tentatively called Survivors, and will be focused more on character interaction rather than on action. Basically, it's a breather episode to recover from the whirlwind of the première.

-ShortyBoss.


	4. Survivors

This took longer than I hoped. Unfortunately, I've just started going back to uni, so that doesn't always leave time to write. Still, I'll do what I can.

* * *

Accessing archived data...

After Tron miraculous recovery...

_..."Good news: I'm healed," said Tron as he activated his staff. "Bad news: I'm healed."_

_With a yell, he launched himself at the approaching Black Guards..._

...Beck gains the help of several new allies...

_..."From now on, we protect each other," said Mara, standing in line with the other programs from Able's Garage..._

_...The Renegade deactivated Tesler's disc, and attached it to his hip. "You'll be branded a traitor for helping me," he said._

_"I know," said Paige. "Which is why I'm going with you..."_

_..."Ada, you're coming with Beck and myself," said Yori. "We're heading to Tron's hideout in Argon..."_

...And makes a surprising discovery...

_...Ada rolled down the top of her right sleeve, revealing a hexagonal mark with a small T shape under it._

_Beck gasped. "An ISO?"_

* * *

"You're still here?" Beck asked as he approached the occupied healing chamber, and the program standing beside it.

Paige nodded. "Until she's awake and out of the healing chamber, Yori is my responsibility," she said.

"How is she?" Beck asked as he looked over at the tank.

Yori was unconscious, and was being suspended from the roof of the chamber by two straps, one under each armpit. Her blonde hair surrounded her face, bobbing in the white plasma. Yori's circuit lines were glowing brightly, as was the dark blue triangle and semi-circle design on her chest.

"Her injury is almost healed, and her energy levels are almost back to normal," said Paige. The medic program glanced at the display on the wall, and she adjusted the plasma levels slightly. "She should finish rebooting and wake up soon."

Beck nodded, and glanced around the room. "Where's Tron? I figured he'd want to be here for Yori."

"I forced him to leave," said Paige. "I didn't need him distracting me while he worried about my patient."

Beck chuckled, then cleared his throat. "I, uh, I guess, in that case, you'll probably want me to leave, too... right?"

Paige shook her head. "No, you can stay," she said. "I'm just didn't want Tron watching over my shoulder for two hundred microcycles."

"Oh," said Beck.

There was an awkward silence between the two programs, which Paige eventually broke.

"Um, Beck?" she said. "You know how we had those dates a while ago?"

"Yeah," said Beck as he nodded slowly, not really sure where this was going.

"Your feelings for me... was it a lie, or were they real?"

Beck swallowed nervously. "Uh-"

"I'm no expert, but I'd say his feelings were real," said a new voice from behind them.

Beck and Paige spun around to face the new arrival.

"Tron?" said Beck.

* * *

**TRON: Uprising**

**Survivors**

* * *

"How long have you been standing there?" Beck asked.

"Long enough," said the old security program, clad in the black version of the white grid-suit he gave to Beck.

"What did you mean," said Paige "About what you just said about Beck's feelings?"

"Well, before he went on that skydiving date with you," said Tron, "he had about nine monitors up, and they all had videos of his fights with you. Beck claimed that he was, what was it? Gauging his opponent?" Tron looked at Beck, and Beck was staring at the floor, clearly embarrassed.

"He also claimed that it wasn't a date, and that he was just gathering intel," Tron continued with a smirk. "He said that while he was checking his reflection to make sure his hair was fine, mind you."

Paige giggled, and Beck rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "Someone derez me now," Beck muttered.

A soft moan from the occupant of the healing chamber caught the attention of the three programs. Paige tapped a button on the nearby console, and released the straps holding Yori. Yori slipped through the permeable wall of the healing chamber, and Tron caught her as she fell. Yori opened her eyes, and blinked a few times as her eyes adjusted. She looked up at the program holding her, and a smile lit up her face.

"Tron," she whispered as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Yori," Tron began. "I was so worried about you. I thought-"

Tron was cut off when Yori pressed her lips against his. The old security program promptly shut up and kissed Yori back. Tron's hand strayed to Yori's shoulder, and Yori moaned in pleasure as Tron began to run his fingers along her circuit lines.

"We should give them some privacy," said Paige.

"R-right," said Beck.

The two younger programs left the room in something of a hurry. As the door closed behind them, Paige spoke.

"Beck? You do... like me, right?" she asked.

"Um, y-yeah," said Beck, rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment. He then clamped his mouth shut to prevent himself from saying something embarrassing or stupid.

Paige smiled. "I'm glad to hear that," she said. "I like you too." Paige then covered her mouth as she yawned. "I'm going to get some rest. It's been a long millicycle."

* * *

Dyson activated the holoprojector and knelt before it. The air shimmered as Clu's yellow-trimmed robes resolved through the static.

"Dyson," said Clu. "It's about time you checked in. What's happened in Argon?"

"Quite a lot," said Dyson. "Very little of it good."

"Let me guess," said Clu. "Tron's causing trouble?"

"The Renegade is, yes," said Dyson. "As far as I can tell, Tron is currently not the one using the white suit."

"Interesting," said Clu. "Wonder what Tron's up to?"

"I believe he's training the other programs he has recruited recently," said Dyson.

"The ones from that mechanic workshop, right?" said Clu. "What was it, Able's Garage?"

"Yes, sir," said Dyson. "If Tron is training his new recruits, that would explain why the Renegade has been active in Argon, rather than Tron himself."

Clu nodded. "So, what has the Renegade done recently?"

"The Renegade has commited three major acts over the last few millicycles," said Dyson. "As you know, the first was his recent, and last, fight with Tesler, just before you arrived in Argon City."

"Yes," said Clu. "That was when Tesler identified the Renegade as one of the programs from Able's Garage."

Dyson nodded. "While I haven't been able to confirm which program from the garage is the Renegade, I do have a suspect. However, I am hesitant to update the Renegade's warrant without solid evidence."

"So who is this suspect?" asked Clu.

Dyson tapped a button, and an image of a male program flashed into existence between them. "His name is Beck, Dyson said. "He was a competitor in the Games alongside Cutler, and Cutler believed he was simply one of Tron's contacts. However, he has been noted to have constantly been taking time off work, and these abscences correspond with the Renegade's appearances."

"Circumstantial evidence at best," said Clu. "Still, it's better than nothing." Clu paused. "What were the other two crimes the Renegade has commited?"

"The second of the Renegade's acts was one we anticipated," said Dyson. "He infiltrated the flagship and stole Tesler's identity disc."

"I noticed that you removed Tesler's permissions from our network," said Clu. "Did you plant the tracking device as well?"

"I did," said Dyson. "However, things did not go according to plan."

"What went wrong?" Clu asked.

"When the Renegade arrived to steal Tesler's disc, the disc in question was in the possession of one of Tesler's lieutenants, Paige."

"I know about her," said Clu. "She was the only survivor of the Gallium Massacre... and I'm guessing she must have discovered the truth behind the massacre."

"I believe so," said Dyson. "The Renegade escaped with the disc and hijacked a light-copter. When I launched a pursuit force, a program jumped out of the copter and activated a light-jet and engaged the pursuit force, which means that the copter was being flown by a second program. During the pursuit, the copter was damaged and crashed in the Outlands. Voxels were found in the crash, and forensic analysis indicated that the voxels were from a female program's right leg."

Clu nodded. "Paige has been trained to fly light-copters, and her medical programming would give her the knowledge to repair an amputation like that. I assume she's also missing?"

"That is correct, sir," said Dyson. "The Traitor is now a wanted program."

"Good," said Clu. "What was the last thing the Renegade did?"

"As you know, one of the programs repurposed by the Mobile Repurposing Unit before it was destroyed was tasked with infiltrating the Bismuth Rebels," said Dyson. "The spy contacted me when he learnt that the Renegade was meeting with the group's leader. He was discovered and derezzed, however, his disc was recovered by Occupation forces that were dispatched to the meeting place."

"What happened to the rebels?" asked Clu.

"Six rebels were derezzed during the ensuing conflict," said Dyson. "Three were captured, and three managed to escape. One of the escapees was later caught in Argon. The two who have not been captured are the movement's leader and her second in command."

"The escapee you caught, what was he doing in Argon?" asked Clu.

"He was here to try and make contact with the Renegade," said Dyson. "Amusingly, he was picked up for breaking curfew of all things."

Clu chuckled, before growing serious again. "What have you done with the captives?"

"The captives have been transferred to Argon, and have been sentenced to participate in the Games," said Dyson. "I've also dispatched some of my forces to reinforce the small garrisons in Purgos, Bismuth and Gallium, and have ordered Coliseums to be constructed in those cities as well."

"Excellent work, Dyson," said Clu. "However, there is still the matter of the two escaped programs."

"Yes," said Dyson. "They managed to evade our patrols in Bismuth, and may have made it back to wherever Tron is hiding. I also have tentatively identified the leader of the Bismuth Rebels."

"Really?" said Clu. "Care to let me in on the secret?"

Dyson nodded, and held a disc out in front of him. "This disc belonged to one of the derezzed rebels, and this image shows the Renegade with two other programs."

The holographic image hovered above the disc, and Clu leaned forward to get a closer look.

"I don't believe it," said Clu. "Is it possible someone is using her emblem for anonymity or to foster rebellion?"

"I doubt it, sir," said Dyson. "I've examined the discs of all the derezzed rebels, and in other meetings with their leader, she has used a black suit with minimal circuitry. I believe she may have revealed her true identity to the Renegade during their discussion, then during the panic, only rezzed her helmet and forgot to alter her suit."

Clu grimaced again. The white suit, combined with her unique triangle and semi-circle design, could only mean that the leader of the Bismuth Rebels was none other than Yori, a program from the Old System, and Tron's lover.

"I thought she was derezzed when the I/O Tower was destroyed," said Clu. "Wonder how she survived?"

"The program in charge of destroying the Tower was Tesler, sir," said Dyson. "Since he's dead and we no longer have his disc, it's hard to know for certain. However, I believe his report may have been mistaken."

Clu sighed. "This is not good," he muttered. "If Yori's alive, then that'll give Tron more reason to fight me..."

Dyson cleared his throat. "Sir, pardon me for asking, but did the upgrade disc arrive at the capital safely?"

"Hm? Oh, yes, it got here a few millicycles ago," said Clu. "We've begun to analyse it, but with Shaw dead and his disc unrecovered, we don't have much information on how it works, or how to create more."

"I see," said Dyson. "Any luck so far?"

"Not really," said Clu. "All we know about it is how it affects a program physically and mentally. We'll have to find a way to counteract the mental affects of the upgrade disc."

Dyson nodded. "Is there anything you need me to do?"

"Be careful," said Clu. "Tron's physical wounds have been healed, and now that he knows Yori's alive, he'll begin to recover from his emotional wounds as well. You're one of the best programs I've got, Dyson. I'd hate to lose you."

"Thank you, sir," said Dyson.

"And remember, if, for any reason, you consider it no longer possible to bring Argon under your control, you have my permission to level Argon City."

"Understood, sir," said Dyson. "Argon, out."

* * *

"So, you're the ISO Beck found?" asked Dash.

The female program in question halted, then turned to face Dash. Behind Dash stood his friend Copper, and a few other programs from the Garage were behind the two males.

"Yes," she said. "And my name is Ada. I would prefer it if you used it."

"Is it true what they say about your kind?" Dash asked.

"I don't know," said Ada, a hint of anger in her voice. "What do 'they' say about... _my kind_?"

"Well, they say you crawled out of the Sea of Simulation with no programmed purpose, you overcrowded the cities and nearly caused the system to crash, you attract viruses and grid-bugs to you like crazy..."

As Dash spoke, he was completely unaware that Ada's hands were slowly curling into fists. Copper, on the other hand, _did_ notice.

"Uh, Dash?" he said, trying to get his friend's attention before he dug himself in too deep.

"You can corrupt programs and turn them into ISOs, you can kill Basics just by touching them," Dash continued, completely oblivious to Copper's warnings. "You ruthlessly murder any programs who discover your secrets-"

With a yell, Ada launched herself at Dash, her fist flying towards Dash's face. A hand reached out and grabbed Ada's wrist, stopping her in the middle of her attack. Yori stepped between Dash and Ada, and Tron relinquished his grip on Ada's grip.

"Ada, I know you're upset by everything Dash has said," said Tron, "but attacking him is only going to make it seem like what he's heard is true."

The ISO glanced at the floor, her anger only kept in check by the fact that she knew Tron was right.

"And, Dash, what you've heard is almost all wrong," said Tron. "Everything you think you know about the ISOs is propoganda and fear-mongering spread by Clu." Tron paused, and turned to face the gathering crowd. "Clu wants you to hate the ISOs, so he spreads lies to make you fear them. Then, you feel grateful to him for removing a threat that never existed. He's manipulating you, using your fear to control you."

"Yeah, well if Flynn hadn't spent all his time on the Grid pampering the ISOs, maybe he would've noticed that Clu was trying to take over and-ungh!"

Dash was interrupted when Yori punched him in the chin. Dash fell backwards, but Copper caught him.

"I would appreciate it if you didn't insult my friend," said Yori. "I know that Flynn dedicated more of his time to the ISOs than he did to Basics. He wanted to understand the ISOs; he wanted to know how they came to be, the details of their code, everything that made them who they were... because they were a complete mystery to him, and Flynn wanted to solve that mystery."

Copper helped Dash to his feet, and Dash rubbed his jaw gingerly.

"While I won't deny that Flynn made mistakes, and he wasn't without flaws, he still tried his hardest to help us," said Yori.

"Yeah, but... the ISOs did cause problems with the system, didn't they?" said Dash. "I mean, there were power failures all the time, gridbug outbreaks every few millicycles..."

"None of that is justification for genocide," snapped Tron. "And I know that Flynn was preparing to fix those problems from the User World. He just never got around to it because of Clu's coup."

Tron sighed. "Look, the Users aren't perfect. They struggle, and they make mistakes, just like every program on the Grid, ISO and Basic alike. Flynn was not some all-powerful being who knew everything that happened on the Grid. He had powers most programs don't, and he built this system from the ground up, but he wasn't perfect."

"Even when you take all that into consideration, he is still a better leader than Clu ever was," said Yori. "Clu doesn't care about what other programs think or feel. Anyone who disagrees with him is either turned into a mindless drone or sentenced to die in the Games. He's no different from the Master Control Program from the Old System."

The silence that followed was eventually broken by Tron. "Dash, I think you owe these two ladies an apology."

The program in question blinked a few times. "Huh? Oh, y-yeah," Dash said. He cleared his throat before continuing. "I'm sorry about what I said about the ISOs," he said sincerely. "It was pretty stupid of me."

"Apology accepted," said Ada.

"And, uh, I'm sorry what I said about Flynn upset you," said Dash.

"No, I'm the one who should apologise," said Yori. "You were right; Flynn should have done something. He should do something now."

The programs gathered began to disperse, heading back to their rooms, or over to rooms that were still under construction. The only two programs left were Tron and Yori.

"You've changed," said Tron.

"No," Yori said bitterly. "The Grid changed. I survived."

Tron walked towards Yori and wrapped his arms around her. Yori sighed, and rested her head on his shoulder. The two old programs simply stood like that for a while, thankful that they were both still alive.

* * *

"Hey, Beck, you all right?" asked Mara.

"Yeah," said Beck, fiddling with the parts of his light-cycle's motor. "Just tuning my bike. Gives me time to think."

"What were you thinking about?"

Beck sighed. "Everything, I guess."

"Do you want to talk about it?" said Mara.

"I guess it'll be good to finally get some of this off my chest," said Beck. He shut down the multitool, and the parts faded back into the cycle. Beck glanced up at Mara, and noticed she was biting her lip.

"Go ahead and ask," said Beck.

"_Why_? Why didn't you tell us? Why didn't you tell _me_?"

"I was trying to keep you safe," said Beck. "I thought that if you didn't know, you wouldn't get caught up in this mess." Beck sighed, and ran a hand through his hair. "You can see how well that went."

"Beck..."

Beck held up a hand. "I know, I should've told you. I just... it was supposed to be a secret. Even if programs didn't believe I was Tron, they still knew I was fighting for them."

Mara was silent for a few seconds before speaking again. "Tron told us that he was injured, which is why you were the Renegade. But he never explained how he recovered."

"Well, Tron wasn't just injured," said Beck. "Dyson did something to Tron's code to prevent his injuries from healing completely. During his recent fight with Cyrus, Tron's injuries began to get worse. That was when that super-recognizer arrived."

"What was that thing, anyway?" asked Mara.

"Did Tron tell you about repurposing?" After seeing Mara nod, Beck continued. "That super-recognizer had a repurposing unit in it, and repurposing Tron was the only way to save him."

"But... wouldn't that have just made him one of Clu's soldiers?"

"It would have if I hadn't interrupted the process," said Beck. "A program's old code is cleansed before Clu's code is added in. If the process is interrupted after the cleanse, but before the new code is installed..."

"You could save someone from being repurposed," said Mara.

Beck nodded. "That's exactly what we did. We were lucky that thing arrived when it did; any later and Tron would be dead."

The two mechanics were silent for a bit.

"What is Cyrus' problem, anyway?" Mara asked. "Why does he want to destroy the Grid?"

Beck rubbed his wrists unconsciously, exposing the glowing scar lines burned into his skin. "I don't know," he said. "He didn't tell me much when we first met, and Tron's not talking about it either... not that I blame him."

Mara gasped. "Beck! Your wrists..."

Beck glanced at the scars on his wrists and grimaced. "I got these from when I first met Cyrus," he said. "Remember when Able sent me to Gallium, but I couldn't get through because of a storm?"

"Yeah, you were gone for a while," said Mara. "I guess that was when you ran into Cyrus."

"Not intentionally, that's for sure," said Beck. "I wanted to get to Gallium as soon as possible, so I decided to try and go around the storm. I went off-road, and ended up near a pool of energy that seemed to be attracting a lot of lightning strikes. I got too close and fell in."

"Sounds like the only person to blame for getting into that mess was yourself," said Mara.

Beck shot an annoyed look at Mara. "Anyway, once I fell in, I found out that for some reason, the energy didn't reach all the way to the bottom. It was suspended above the bottom of the pool."

"How is that even possible?" asked Mara.

Beck shrugged. "I don't know. Anyway, there was this weird doorway thing at the bottom of the pool. When I got close, Cyrus grabbed me and pulled me in. It was even weirder inside there. Cyrus called it compressed space. Anyway, he lead me down to the bottom, which is when he revealed that he'd converted his prison into a massive EMP, but he needed two programs to power it. I was strapped to a chair on top of the bomb, and the straps burned these marks into my wrists."

"Obviously, you managed to escape, or we'd all be dead," said Mara. "Did he ever say why he wanted to destroy the Grid?"

"He... did mention something," said Beck slowly. "He said he didn't believe we programs had free will because we're, well, programmed to follow the directives we have when we're rezzed."

Mara was silent for a short time. "You know what? Cyrus sounds like a complete hypocrite. He's the one who chose to destroy the Grid. I'm pretty sure that wasn't in his programming."

Beck sighed. "To be completely honest with you, I have no idea what's wrong with him. All I know is he's completely insane. Any trace of the good program who saved Tron all those cycles ago is long gone now."

"Next time I see that bit brained son of a glitch," Mara said, "I'm putting my disc through his head."

"Not if I get him first," Beck muttered darkly.

Mara looked at Beck. "I thought you didn't derez programs," she said.

"Normally, I don't," said Beck. "But for Cyrus, I'm willing to make an exception. Because of him, Able's..." Beck stopped, and tried to swallow the lump in his throat. "Able's..."

Mara threw her arms around Beck's shoulders and hugged him. Beck stiffened in surprise, then relaxed into the hug as tears began to roll down his cheeks.

"I know," said Mara, her voice cracking. "I miss him too."

* * *

"All right, Yori," said Tron. "Run the simulation."

The featureless expanse of the training room began to change as glowing lines filled the air. The space between the lines began to fill as the simulation loaded.

"Rendering: Arena Battle," said the disembodied female voice that was standard across the Grid.

Tron glanced over at his new sparring partner. Paige's circuit lines were still the orange-red of an Occupation program, which Tron found slightly surprising.

"Why are we doing this?" she asked as the floor beneath them became the glass-like material that formed the surface of a Disc Arena.

"I want to see how well you can fight for myself," said Tron. "Don't hold back."

"Wasn't planning to," said Paige, rezzing her helmet as she reached behind her back. She drew her disc, but did not activate the cutting edge, and Tron did likewise.

"Begin," said the computer, and the two programs charged at each other.

Paige threw her disc at Tron as she charged, and Tron smacked it aside with his own disc. Paige's disc ricocheted off the walls and came flying at Paige's back. Paige leapt into the air, spinning around to catch her disc. With her disc in hand, she continued her spin, and used her momentum to deliver a powerful slash at Tron. Tron stepped back, and Paige's disc sliced through the air in front of his face. Tron thrust his disc at Paige's head, but Paige brought her right arm up and used her elbow to shove Tron's attack aside. She then followed through with her left arm, punching Tron in the gut. Tron staggered back a few steps and smirked.

"Not bad," he said, rezzing his helmet. "Not bad at all."

"There's plenty more where that came from," Paige said.

She charged forward again, stabbing with her disc. Tron ducked under the blow, and flipped her over his shoulder. Paige grunted when she slammed into the floor, but she recovered quickly. Paige lifted her legs up, and trapped Tron's neck between her shins. She then brought her legs down, flipping Tron over her. Tron hit the ground hard, and Paige used the brief respite to scramble to her feet. Tron rolled to his feet and threw his disc at Paige. Paige held her disc in front of her, and Tron's disc bounced off, flying back at Tron. Tron caught it as he ran towards Paige, and thrust his disc at Paige. Paige blocked with her disc, then retaliated with an attack of her own.

* * *

"What's going on?"

Yori glanced over her shoulder as Beck walked towards the holographic display.

"Tron's testing your friend Paige," she said. "I understand she used to work for the Occupation."

Beck nodded, and rubbed his left arm unconsciously. "Yeah, she was Tesler's right-hand woman for some time," he said.

"So why did she decide to change sides?" asked Yori.

"She hasn't told me the full story yet, but I''m pretty sure Ada was involved," said Beck. "Paige and Ada recognised each other, and Paige said that she knew the truth about what happened in Gallium, and that she didn't blame the ISOs anymore."

"Gallium?" said Yori, frowning slightly. "I remember hearing that two ISOs supposedly massacred every program at the Gallium hospital several cycles ago. I thought it was just rumors."

"I've heard about it, too," said Beck. "I guess the massacre did happen, but it wasn't committed by the ISOs."

"Which means that the Occupation must have done it," said Yori. "Wouldn't be the first time Clu blamed something he did on the ISOs."

"Why does Clu hate the ISOs so much?" Beck asked.

"Flynn designed Clu to create the perfect system," said Yori. "The ISOs didn't factor into that perfection, so he's always tried to remove them from the system."

"What's so bad about the ISOs?" asked Beck. "They don't have a directive when they're rezzed, but considering that pretty much everyone here is acting outside of whatever directives we had, that's not really something we should judge them by, is it?"

"You're right, we shouldn't judge them for that," said Yori. "But Clu believes that perfection can only be achieved by following your directives. Any program that doesn't is either derezzed, repurposed or sent to the Games."

"That can't be the only reason Clu hates the ISOs," said Beck. "Because if it is, that's rather petty."

"Clu has several other reasons," said Yori. "The system had a few near-fatal crashes that occurred as the ISO population grew, and the ISOs were crowding some of the cities. However, the thing about the ISOs that really angered Clu was their ability to self-replicate."

"Self-replicate?!" Beck asked incredulously. "You mean they can create more of themselves?! Like grid-bugs or viruses?"

Yori shook her head. "Flynn said it was more like how Users self-replicate, rather than viruses. He even compared the young second-generation ISOs to his son, Sam." Yori sighed. "Flynn was absolutely fascinated with the second-generation ISOs... so fascinated that he began to neglect the Basics he created for this system."

"What do you mean?" asked Beck.

"Flynn's obsession with the ISOs, along with all the things he mentioned he was trying to balance in the User World, left him preoccupied," said Yori. "He barely spared a thought for the Basics when he was here, and he always focussed his attention on the ISOs. That's why he didn't notice what Clu was doing until it was too late."

"But... Flynn created us," said Beck. "Why would he leave us to fend for ourselves?"

"The Users aren't as all-powerful as you think, Beck," said Yori. "I've seen Flynn perform acts that would be considered miracles, but for all his power, he was still as flawed as any program."

"You sound kind of bitter," said Beck.

Yori sighed. "I can forgive Flynn for not seeing what Clu was doing. That is understandable. However, I can't forgive him for not doing something after Clu came to power."

"That doesn't make any sense," said Beck. "If the stories about the Old System are true, then he could stop Clu with a snap of his fingers."

"I doubt it would be quite that easy, but he could do it," said Yori. "And yet he's abandoned us, left us at Clu's mercy." Yori sighed, and shook her head. "If I ever see Flynn again, I'm going to knock some sense into him with the blunt edge of my disc."

"Remind me never to upset you," said Beck.

Yori laughed. "You already have," she said. "I slammed you into a desk when I realised you weren't Tron, remember?"

"Oh. Yeah, that," said Beck. "Not something I want to go through again."

"You won't," said Yori. "Unless you give me good reason to."

Beck swallowed nervously, and Yori laughed at his obvious discomfort.

* * *

Tron slashed at Paige, and Paige jumped back. She responded by shoving her disc at Tron's chest, holding it horizontally. Tron leaned back, and as the disc passed over him, he shoved his arm through the center of the disc. He pulled his arm back and yanked Paige's disc out of her hand, and hit her in the chest with his inactive disc. Paige was knocked over, and grunted as her back hit the floor.

"Winner: Tron," said the computer. "Would you like to play again?"

"End simulation," said Tron. The ground beneath them flickered, and the Disc Arena faded out of existence, replaced by the white expanses of Tron's training room.

Paige sat up as Tron docked his disc. The security program collapsed his helmet and tossed her disc back to Paige. She caught it and returned the disc to its dock. Tron walked up to her, and held his hand out to her. Paige took his hand, and he pulled her back up to her feet as she collapsed her own helmet.

"Nice work," said Tron. "I haven't fought anyone as skilled as you in some time."

"Thanks," said Paige. "I had a good teacher."

"I noticed you haven't changed your circuit lines," said Tron. "Why is that?"

Paige shifted from foot to foot uncomfortably. "My time in the Occupation is part of who I am," she said. "It's a reminder of everything I did as a part of the Occupation; everything I want to atone for."

Tron nodded. "I never thought I'd end up saying this, but I believe you," he said. "I'm willing to give you a chance."

"Thank you," said Paige.

"Don't thank me just yet," said Tron. "You still haven't earned my full trust yet. Admittedly, helping Yori did earn you some trust, but I want to make sure your intentions are really what you say they are."

"I understand," said Paige, sounding slightly downcast.

"Humor an old security program," said Tron. "Besides, I've been betrayed too much in recent cycles. Trust isn't something I'm good at any more."

* * *

"I see you two are finished," said Yori as Paige and Tron exited the training room. "How'd it go?"

"Paige is good," said Tron. "She's about as skilled as Beck is."

"Is that a compliment or an insult?" Paige asked.

"Hey!"

Tron chuckled. "It's a compliment. There are only a few programs who can give me a good fight. You and Beck are among those few."

"Tron's not so good at the whole 'compliment' thing," said Beck. "But he's still a good teacher."

"You were a fast learner," said Tron. "There's not a whole lot more I can really teach you."

Beck practically glowed with pride. "Thanks," he said. Beck reached behind his back and drew his disc, and began to twist off the white bottom half when Tron held up a hand.

"Keep it," he said. "You've earned it."

"Really?" Beck asked. "Are you sure."

Tron nodded. "You're the one that's been inspiring the programs of Argon. Even if they don't believe you're Tron, they're still willing to stand against Clu's regime, because you showed them that it's possible. All I did was help you."

"I..." Beck began before he choked up. "Thank you," he said as he docked his disc. Beck's outfit rippled as the white suit replaced his normal black one, and Tron's insignia lit up his chest.

Tron placed a hand on Beck's shoulder. "You're a good friend, Beck. I'm proud of you."

Yori smiled. "I knew that the User believing idealist was still hidden away somewhere beneath that shell," she said.

"Haven't had much reason to be hopeful, recently," Tron said as he walked up to her. "But that all changed a few millicycles ago when you came back to me."

Yori blushed, and the two programs hugged. "I missed you, too," Yori said.

Paige moved over to stand next to Beck. "Tron thinks pretty highly of you," she said.

"Yeah," said Beck, rubbing the back of his neck. "I didn't realise _how_ highly until just now." The mechanic program sighed. "Taking on his identity for real, though... I'm not sure I'm ready for that burden."

"You won't have to do it alone," Paige said. She reached out and held his hand in hers. "I'm here for you."

Beck glanced down at their intertwined fingers, then back at Paige. "I'm glad to hear that," he said.

"Stealing my line, now?" she said playfully.

"Well, I was hoping you wouldn't realise that," said Beck.

The two young programs laughter was interrupted as Yori and Tron walked up to them.

"Paige, I wanted to thank you for saving my life," said Yori. "Tron and I will stay here to help train the new recruits and coordinate your work in the field. I also wanted to give you this."

Yori drew her disc and held it out in front of her. There was a brief whine as Yori twisted the bottom half of her disc off, and Yori's grid suit became a solid black, retaining her normal circuit lines. She held the bottom half out to Paige, and Paige accepted it and attached it to her own disc. When Paige docked her disc, her eyes flashed briefly before a wave of white rippled across her body. In a few seconds, her grid suit had been replaced with Yori's, and the deep blue triangle and semi-circle design flashed brightly.

"Good luck out there," Tron said. "Tron... and Yori."

* * *

Things between Beck and Paige were going to be a little awkward for a while. Fortunately, Daddy!Tron is there to break the ice, and embarrass the crap out of poor Beck. And were Tron and Yori about to do the program equivalent of you know what? I'll leave that one up to you. ;)

I've noticed that I have something of a trend to have at least one scene involving the villains. I guess I just want to show what they're planning to while our heroes are doing their thing. I've also seen a few fics where Clu bombs Argon out of existence when he arrives. I figure that he'd probably try to use different tactics to bring the city in line. After all, with more programs alive, he can rectify more into his army. Of course, bombing the city is still a viable back up plan, but is it one that will see use...?

Kevin Flynn kinda screwed up real good on the Grid. While I certainly don't think he's evil or irredeemable, he did do some pretty stupid things. He practically ignored the Basics in favour of the ISOs, he didn't tell anyone about the Grid (even though if he did, it probably sounded like he was high or something), and though he says he tried to fight back in Legacy, all the evidence suggests he spent all thousand cycles of Clu's rule sitting in the lotus position in a cave with Olivia Wilde.

Speaking of cycles, timekeeping on the Grid is something that bugs me. In Legacy, Kevin says that a millicycle is about eight hours. Zuse later says that Clu has been searching for Kevin's disc for a thousand cycles, and the context seems to imply that a cycle is the Grid equivalent of a year. Kevin Flynn was missing for twenty years, which would then suggest that one year in the analogue world is equal to fifty cycles on the Grid. Furthermore, a millicycle would be one one-thousandth of a cycle, making a cycle eight thousand hours. For comparison, a year in analogue is 8760 hours. However, the way cycle is used in Uprising seems to refer to a work day rather than a year, but that may just be slang. Also, microcycle is also fairly commonly used. In context, it is used as a substitute for a minute. A microcycle is one one-thousandth of a millicycle, which makes a microcycle about half a minute (28.8 seconds to be exact, but who's counting?). Ah, the power of math.

Now Paige is now starting to be accepted by Tron. He does have trust issues after all the betrayals he's been through, but he's also going to be a much happier program now that Yori's with him. I'm trying to bring back some of the idealistic security program we see in the original film, although he's never going to be quite the same after all he's been through. Dyson left more than physical scars on Tron...

And Paige is now wearing Yori's suit. I figured it would be somewhat appropriate, since Beck and Paige, as the two most experienced programs in the Resistance beside Tron and Yori, are going to be doing most of the field work until Mara, Zed and the others are ready.

Speaking of which, Beck and Paige's first adventure as a team will take place next time, in a story called Corruption, in which Argon is quarantined for a virus outbreak, and Beck and Paige try to figure out why a virus broke out in Argon and how to stop it from spreading.

-Shortyboss.


	5. Corruption

Sorry this took so long, but real life is such a pain. Can someone please derez real life? It would make things so much easier.

* * *

Accessing archived data...

_Beck meets one of Tron's old friends..._

_...As the door clicked shut behind him, Beck began to turn around. That was when the female program slammed him into the desk and held her disc to his throat..._

_...The female program collapsed her helmet, revealing her blond hair. Her suit rippled as it shifted from black to white, and a dark blue triangle lit up in the centre of her chest, and a semi-circle spread from the base of the triangle up to her shoulders._

_"Tron would've recognized me," she said..._

...And Paige is finally accepted into the resistance.

_"...Paige, I wanted to thank you for saving my life," said Yori... "I also wanted to give you this."_

_Yori drew her disc and held it out in front of her. There was a brief whine as Yori twisted the bottom half of her disc off, and Yori's grid suit became a solid black, retaining her normal circuit lines. She held the bottom half out to Paige, and Paige accepted it and attached it to her own disc. When Paige docked her disc, her eyes flashed briefly before a wave of white rippled across her body. In a few seconds, her grid suit had been replaced with Yori's, and the deep blue triangle and semi-circle design flashed brightly._

_"Good luck out there," Tron said. "Tron... and Yori."_

* * *

The program wore a black cloak, hiding the glowing cracks in her skin. The folds of the cloak kept her clawed hands out of view. However, the cloak itself was trimmed with yellow circuit lines, giving away the truth to any who recognised the significance of the colour. The Black Guard who stopped her did not know that significance.

"Halt, program!" said the Guardsman. "Identif-_aargh!_"

The virus whirled around and slashed her clawed hand through the Guardsman's throat. The Black Guardsman collapsed, clutching his throat as he began to convulse. Three more Black Guards were further down the street, and came running to the downed program's aid. The virus ran, and one of the Black Guards chased her. The other two stopped to check on their injured colleague. The Black Guardsman's convulsions had stopped, and a sickly yellow colour began seeping into his circuit lines as his fingers sharpened into claws. With a snarl, the infected Guardsman bared his claws and charged at the two uninfected Guards. One of the Guards drew his disc and threw it at the infected Guardsman, and the infected program was derezzed as the disc sliced through his head.

"Virus outbreak," said the Black Guardsman as he caught his disc. "Inform Supreme Commander Dyson, immediately!"

* * *

**TRON: Uprising**

**Corruption**

* * *

"A virus outbreak?!" snarled Dyson. "How in the name of Flynn did a _virus_ get to Argon in the first place?!"

The Sentry relaying the news to Dyson wisely chose not to answer.

Dyson growled angrily. "Quarantine the city. Blockade every single exit point, and track down any programs that have left Argon in the last millicycle and have them examined for contamination. I will not let this virus spread any further."

"Sir? Could this possibly an Abraxas infected program?" asked Pavel.

"Don't be daft," said Dyson. "The Abraxas virus was exterminated cycles ago. I derezzed the last few programs infected with that particular virus personally."

Pavel paused. "Perhaps we should attempt to capture one of the infected programs, in order to determine where it came from and why it formed in the first place."

"Capturing an infected would give us some information about the virus itself, but it wouldn't reveal where and why it formed," said Dyson. "For that information, we'd need to capture the progenitor of the virus itself, and that's far too dangerous."

"We could still learn about the virus and prevent the virus from reappearing if we studied an infected-"

"What is there to learn about a virus?!" Dyson snapped. "They're corrupt programs that only care about spreading their diseased code and destroying the Grid. The only way to prevent them from reappearing is by exterminating any and all programs who have been infected!"

Dyson took a deep breath, calming himself. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to prepare a speech," he said as he walked out of the room. "The citizens of this city need to know about this... problem."

* * *

From his vantage point on top of a residential building, Beck pointed to a program that caught his eye.

"I saw her evade a Black Guard a few microcycles ago," he said. "Not sure why she was running away, but I think she's trying to hide her identity for some reason. That would explain the cloak."

"Hmm..." said Paige. She had rezzed her helmet, so Beck couldn't see her face, but he got the distinct impression she was frowning.

"Is something wrong?" he asked.

"That program... there's something about her that's off," she said. "I'm trying to remember something from my medic days... something about..." Paige trailed off.

"About what?" Beck prompted.

"Viruses," Paige whispered.

"What was that? I didn't quite hear you."

"Virus! That program's a virus!" Paige yelled, pointing at the yellow-circuited program. "We have to stop her!"

Paige's cries were heard by the programs in the street below, and the crowd began to back away from the virus. Paige and Beck leapt from the rooftops down to the street, and the virus reached up and pulled back her hood, revealing a face covered by a featureless black helmet.

"I'm guessing you two are the Renegade and the Traitor I've heard so much about," said the virus.

"Who are you?" asked Beck as he drew his disc.

The virus chuckled. "Call me... Melissa. And, yes, I'm a virus. Good guess."

In one smooth movement, Paige drew her disc, activated it and threw it at Melissa. Melissa drew her own disc and smacked Paige's disc aside, causing Paige's disc to ricochet of a building before arcing back to Paige.

"Now that was rude," said Melissa as she docked his disc. "We barely know each other, and you're already trying to derez me."

"You're a virus!" snarled Paige. "You just want to derez everyone on the Grid!"

"Ah, I see we have a misunderstanding," said Melissa. "I don't seek to derez programs. I'm simply here to liberate them."

Without warning, Melissa turned around and lunged at the programs gathered behind her. Her clawed right hand stabbed a female program in the gut, and she slashed a male in the chest with his left. Paige and Beck threw their discs at Melissa, but Melissa ducked under the two discs, and then ran through the crowd, slashing programs with her clawed hands as he ran past them. Once she reached the other side of the crowd, the programs she'd slashed were convulsing on the ground as their circuit lines flickered to yellow and glowing yellow cracks appeared on their skin.

"My work here is done," said Melissa. "In a few minutes, you'll see the truth behind my liberation, and seek to share your revelation with others. Farewell, Renegade. Farewell, Traitor."

With a laugh, Melissa sprinted down an alleyway, and Paige moved to follow her. Beck grabbed Paige's shoulder to stop her.

"We have to get out of here," he said. "If we chase Melissa through that crowd, we'll get infected, and the Uprising will lose its best programs."

"We can't let her get away with this!" Paige said.

"We won't," said Beck. "But right now, we have other problems."

The infected programs had finished their changes, and their circuit lines now glowed a sickly yellow as they began baring their clawed hands. The infected then began to attack the uninfected, and chaos broke out. Programs threw their discs at the infected, and the virus carriers shattered into voxels. Infected programs slashed at other programs, spreading the corruption of Melissa.

A recognizer hovered into view, and a squad of Black Guards leapt off the recognizer, activating their wing-chutes as they fell.

"Begin virus containment procedures," said the squad leader.

"Yes, sir!"

The Black Guards activated grenades, and threw them into the crowd. Explosions rang out, derezzing programs indiscriminantly. With the crowd disoriented, the Black Guards waded into the crowd with their discs drawn, derezzing anyone with yellow circuits.

"Come on!" yelled Beck, tugging Paige's wrist. Reluctantly, Paige turned and followed Beck as they made their escape. As they made their way onto the rooftops, they saw recognizers flying overhead, with a flat hologram of Dyson being projected between the legs of the recognizers.

"Greetings, programs," said Dyson. "As you may or may not know, a virus has somehow made its way into Argon City, and has begun spreading its contamination among you. For safety reasons, Argon is entering a state of lockdown."

"Over there!" said Beck, pointing.

Melissa was forcing her way through a crowd of programs as he made her way to one of Argon's main thoroughfares. Any programs that got too close were either slashed or stabbed with her clawed hands, and collapsed as the convulsions that signaled their changes began.

"Her hands must be the primary vector for infection," said Paige distantly.

"We can worry about that later," said Beck. "Right now, we have to catch up to her!"

"All roads leading out of the city have been closed to prevent the contamination reaching other cities," said the holographic Dyson projections. "For your own safety, it is recommended that you stay indoors, either in your place of residence, or your workspace. If you see any programs with yellow circuitry, inform the Occupation immediately, and we will dispatch forces to deal with the virus."

Beck and Paige leapt from rooftop to rooftop, following Melissa as she ran towards the thoroughfare. The two white-clad programs got ahead of Melissa, and dropped down in front of him. With a snarl, the virus turned and ran into an alleyway.

"During this time of crisis, some laws will be relaxed until the virus infection has been exterminated," continued Dyson. "If your workplace is the site of a virus attack, you will not be held responsible for any drops in production. Likewise, if production drops due to your colleagues being infected, any non-infected programs will not be held accountable."

Melissa drew her disc and hurled it at a pipe. As Beck and Paige entered the alleyway, the disc sliced through the pipe. The pipe contained superheated energy under intense pressure, which immediately burst into steam as soon as an escape route opened. Beck and Paige staggered back, overwhelmed by the steam.

"Deresolution is, sadly, the only solution in this dire situation," said Dyson. "However, any program who has been infected is no longer the program you knew, and must be dealt with before the corruption can spread. This virus will be contained, and Argon will not fall to this contamination. That will be all."

Two Black Guards came up behind Beck and Paige, attracted by the noise of the pipe bursting.

"Halt, programs!" ordered one of the guards "Identity yourselves."

Beck dropped and swept his leg across, knocking a Guardsman down. Paige kicked the other Guardsman in the face, shattering his helmet and knocking him out. The Black Guard Beck had tripped was getting back to his feet when Paige punched him in the back of the head, knocking him out as well.

"We have to find a place to hide," said Beck. "Once we're safe, we can come up with a plan."

"Okay," said Paige.

* * *

Dyson surveyed the carnage, and kicked a few faded yellow voxels.

"What, exactly, happened here?" he asked of the squad leader. "I want all the details."

"The progenitor of the virus was spotted here," said the Black Guardsman. "According to witness testimony, the program who identified the virus was the Traitor."

"Are you sure of that?" asked Dyson.

"Yes sir," said the Guardsman. "I've analysed the discs of the derezzed programs, and they confirm that the Traitor and the Renegade both attempted to stop the virus."

"I see," said Dyson. "I assume the virus then infected nearby programs to use them to fight the Renegade and the Traitor?"

"That is a likely scenario, sir," said the Black Guard. "We've also learned that the virus is called Melissa, and the primary infection method involves attacking other programs with her clawed hands. Programs who have been infected by Melissa are also capable of infecting other programs."

"And how many programs were infected in this area?" asked Dyson.

"So far, seventy eight programs in this area have been confirmed as virus carriers and derezzed," said the Black Guard. As the Guard spoke, an infected program lurking in the shadows leapt out and charged at Dyson. Dyson drew his disc and rammed it into the infected program's chest, and the dying program's voxels scattered across the street, mingling with the existing piles of cubes.

"You missed one," said Dyson as he docked his disc.

"We believe that some of the virus carriers have fled the scene, and are making their way to other parts of the city to spread the infection," said the Guardsman. "Melissa herself has also escaped."

Dyson nodded. "Have any virus carriers been spotted near the city limits?"

"No sir," said the Guardsman. "All blockades are in place, and there have been no virus sightings at any of them."

"Let me know if anything else comes up," said Dyson. "I want this virus wiped off the face of the Grid as soon as possible!"

* * *

Beck glanced around the docks. No programs were in sight, so Beck made his way over to one of the open shipping containers. He poked his head inside the container, and saw a few crates of energy, as well as a crate full of blank identity discs and batons.

"Nobody followed us," said Paige as she came up behind him.

Beck nodded, and pulled the shipping container's door open. The two programs entered the container, and Beck sat down on one of the crates and collapsed his helmet.

"How did a virus get into Argon?" asked Beck. "Any ideas?"

Paige collapsed her helmet and shook her head. "I don't know much about how viruses form," she said. "The only major virus was Abraxas, and he and his infected programs were all derezzed cycles ago."

"I've heard about Abraxas," said Beck. "Didn't he show up just before Clu's coup?"

"Yes," said Paige. "As far as I know, he first appeared when the leader of the ISOs, Radia, was being installed as system administrator alongside Clu. He derezzed Radia, but during his attempt to infect Clu's flagship, the _Regulator_, he caused the power core to overload, destroying the flagship and killing him."

Beck was silent for a second. "Clu hates the ISOs. Do you think he may have created Abraxas to derez Radia?"

"I don't know," said Paige. "There was little in the official databanks about Abraxas. But it does seem likely."

"So, what are we going to do about the virus in Argon?" asked Beck. "Melissa isn't going to stop infecting programs until the entire Grid is corrupted."

"Standard procedure is to derez any infected programs," said Paige. "However, it might be possible to cure the infected programs without derezzing them."

"Really?" asked Beck.

Paige nodded. "If I could get an infected program's identity disc, I could access their code, find the corrupted sections and possibly remove them. The procedure may not work, though, and I'll need specialised equipment."

"If we can save programs without derezzing them, then I say we do it," said Beck. "I just hope it works. What do you need?"

"I'll need a code analysis and extraction device," said Paige. "There are portable versions that can be downloaded onto a baton, but I'll still need to get to the Argon Hospital to obtain the subroutines."

"Are you sure you should go?" asked Beck. "I could get them for you."

"I appreciate the offer, but I have to do it," said Paige. "I still have my medic permissions stored on my disc, and those permissions are universal across the Grid. And besides, I already have the perfect disguise."

Paige's grid-suit rippled from white to black, and green circuit-lines flashed to life. A cross-shaped medical emblem appeared on her shoulders.

"I'll be back as soon as possible," said Paige as she rezzed her helmet. "Try and capture an infected program and bring it here. If this works, we can then start saving other infected programs."

Beck nodded. "What are we going to do about Melissa herself?"

"Even if it is possible to remove the corrupted code from the infected, Melissa is the source of the virus," said Paige. "It would be impossible to remove that much corrupted code. The only way to stop Melissa will be to derez her."

Beck bit his lip, and nodded. "I don't like it, but if it's our only choice... I'll do it."

* * *

There were few programs in the streets now. Most of them had heeded Dyson's warnings, and were staying indoors. Some of the more brave programs were still venturing out into the streets though, giving Paige a small amount of cover. She made her way to the staff entrance of the Argon Hospital and drew her disc, inserting it into a dock next to the door. A green light played over disc as the dock scanned for the correct permissions.

"Access granted," said the female voice of the Grid, and Paige released a breath she hadn't realised she was holding. She removed her disc and docked it on her back. The door opened silently, and Paige headed inside. Hopefully, the layout wasn't too different from the Gallium Hospital...

* * *

"Excuse me, sir?"

Dyson glanced over his shoulder. "What is it, Pavel?"

"I've just received a report from the Argon Hospital," said Pavel. "Apparently, a program has used Paige's permissions to gain access to the hospital."

"I see," said Dyson. "Did you tell anyone else about this, or did you bring it straight to me?"

"You are the first program I've told," said Pavel.

"Good," said Dyson. "I'll handle this personally. I want you to oversee the virus containment while I'm gone."

Dyson walked towards the door, and stopped when he was level with Pavel and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Oh, and by the way," said Dyson cheerfully. "If I find out you've gone behind my back on this, you won't live long enough to regret it. Is that understood?"

"Y-y-yes, sir," said Pavel.

"Good," said Dyson, patting Pavel's shoulder. "Carry on."

* * *

A virus carrier lunged at a Black Guard. The Guardsman threw his disc at the virus carrier, derezzing her. A scream from behind him caused the Guardsman to turn around, and he saw his partner collapsing into a pile of yellow cubes, and a pair of infected programs stood over the voxels. The Guardsman threw his disc at the left virus carrier, but the infected Sentry deflected it with his own disc. The Guardsman grabbed a grenade and hurled it at the virus carriers. Both infected programs leapt out of the way as the Guardsman's disc flew back into his hand. The Guardsman charged at one of the virus carriers and rammed his disc through his chest. The infected Sentry gasped as he began to shatter, voxels spreading in a puddle around the Guardsman. As the Guardsman turned, the third virus carrier charged, his hands raised to impale the Guardsman with his claws. A white disc flew threw the air, severing the virus carrier's arms just above the wrists. The disc arced through the air as the Renegade slammed into the virus carrier, knocking him down. As the virus carrier slammed into the floor and into unconsciousness, the Renegade caught his disc. The Guardsman's grip on his own disc tightened as he slipped into a battle stance.

"Oh, come on," said the Renegade. "You're going to fight me? After I just saved your life?"

"Why didn't you derez the virus?" asked the Guardsman, remaining ready for a fight.

"Because we might be able to find a way to remove the virus," said Beck. "We're going to try and heal him, without derezzing him."

"He's a virus! He can't be saved!"

"Do you really believe that?" asked the Renegade. "Or is that what Clu told you to believe?"

The Guardsman's grip on his disc tightened further, and he gritted his teeth.

"He's acting under the virus's influences," continued the Renegade. "He's a victim, not a target. He deserves a chance to be saved, not be condemned to death for something that wasn't his fault."

The Guardsman deactivated his disc and relaxed his stance.

"Go," said the Guardsman. "Save him, if you can."

"Thank you," said the Renegade. The white-clad program knelt down and slung the unconscious virus carrier over his shoulder.

"Do you really believe he's worth saving?" asked the Guardsman.

The Renegade paused. "I believe everyone's worth saving, no matter who they are. And I'll fight, even die, to save as many as I can."

Having said his piece, the Renegade walking away, leaving the Guardsman to contemplate his words.

* * *

Dyson watched as a female program exited the Argon Hospital. She was wearing a generic medical grid-suit, however, the distinctive wings on the side of Paige's helmet gave her away. Dyson drew his disc, and a holographic display of his grid-suit appeared. He loaded a previous version saved to his disc, then docked his disc. The change was ultimately rather minor; he simply removed the distinctive circuit lines that marked him as the Supreme Commander, and once his helmet was rezzed, he appeared to be just an ordinary Black Guard. Anonymity was a wonderful thing...

* * *

Paige, still in her medic outfit, glanced at her reflection as she passed a window. She was being tailed by a very persistent Black Guard. Paige mentally kicked herself for not thinking that Dyson would not have monitored the use of her medic permissions. That said, she was surprised that Dyson himself hadn't tried to attack her yet.

Paige ducked between buildings and her circuit-lines rippled from medical green to Occupation orange. She also rezzed her cloak and drew her disc. The black fabric settled around her, obscuring the drawn disc in her hand.

An orange disc came flying down towards her, and Paige ducked under it. The Black Guard that had followed her came into view and caught the disc. An energy cord flared into existence, stretching from the disc to Dyson's right hand as his hidden circuit lines blazed to life. He swung the disc, stretching the cord to its limit as it swung in front of Paige. Dyson swung again, and Paige leaped over the disc and threw her disc at the cord, severing it. Dyson's disc shot forward and embedded itself in a wall nearby. Dyson ran at Paige, and Paige uppercutted Dyson in the jaw hard enough to crack his helmet. Dyson collapsed, and Paige caught her disc as it boomeranged back. She then began climbing up the wall, making her way to the rooftops.

Dyson sat up, and collapsed his ruined helmet. A quick glance around confirmed that Paige had already run. Dyson walked over to his disc and yanked it out of the wall with a snarl. He docked the disc, then placed a hand on the ground. A series of footprints lit up the street, the blue prints leading up a wall to the rooftops. Dyson smirked, grateful to Clu for giving him the prototype tracker subroutine...

* * *

Paige opened the door to the shipping container Beck was hiding in, causing him to whirl around and draw his disc.

"Relax," she said as her suit changed from her normal outfit to Yori's grid-suit. "It's just me."

"Sorry," said Beck as he docked his disc. "I'm a bit on edge at the moment."

Paige nodded, and held up a baton. "I got the necessary subroutines, but Dyson was monitoring my medical permissions. I managed to get away from him, but he'll find us sooner or later."

"I'll keep an eye out for him, then," said Beck. He got out of the shipping container as Paige headed inside. Paige looked down at the virus carrier Beck had captured. He was still unconscious, and was lying face down on the floor with his arms and legs bound.

Paige sighed in annoyance. "Was it really necessary to cut his hands off?"

"If I hadn't cut his hands off, he would've infected another program," said Beck. "I wasn't going to let that happen. Too many programs have died today."

Paige nodded, and pulled the baton apart. Green lines of light spread from the baton, and the space between the lines filled with metal as the code analysis and extraction device formed. Four legs supported a small desk, which had a slot for storing the disc to be examined rising up at the back. The space between the two halves of the baton was filled with a keyboard, and a variety of tools attached to the desk shimmered into existence between the keyboard and the disc slot.

As Paige reached down to take the infected program's disc, the virus carrier woke up and started thrashing around. Paige planted her boot on the virus carrier's shoulder and pushed him down, holding him still as she removed his disc.

"Let me go!" growled the virus carrier, his voice distorted by static. "I... I have to be free! Free to... to spread the liberation... of my mistress! Show all programs... the liberation... set them free... Melissa commands it!"

Outside the shipping container, Beck groaned. "Not this again," he muttered.

"I'm guessing you've heard all this before," said Paige as she put the infected program's disc in the analysis and extraction device.

Beck nodded. "He woke up a few micros after I got him back here, and started babbling on about that stuff. I ended up knocking him out again to keep him quiet."

"He sounds like some sort of religious zealot," said Paige as the virus carrier continued raving. "Can you knock him out again? I'd rather not listen to his insane ramblings as I'm working."

Beck drew his disc, and, without activating the cutting edge, threw it at the virus carrier's head. With a grunt, the infected program slipped back into silent unconsciousness.

"Thank you," said Paige, turning to face the device before her. A hologram depicting the code of the disc had appeared above the keyboard, and sections of the code started appearing in yellow as the device detected the corrupted data. The device emitted a soft beep when it had finished scanning the disc.

"Okay, I've found all the corrupted segments of data," said Paige. "Now comes the hard part. I have to somehow remove the segments of corrupted data without doing any damage to his base code."

"Will it work?" asked Beck.

"I don't know," said Paige. "The removal of the corrupted data could cause the virus to trigger a self-derez, or it could leave the infected program an insane mess. At best, he'll probably have no memory of his time as a virus."

"Well, do what you can," said Beck. "If it doesn't work, we'll..." Beck swallowed. "We'll have to derez them."

* * *

The next set of glowing blue footprints were visible on the rooftop across the street. However, virus carriers were prowling the street between the two buildings. Dyson drew his disc and activated the energy cord. He dropped to the street, landing on a virus carrier and ramming his disc into its head, shattering the infected program into yellow voxels. Another infected program charged at him, and Dyson swung the cord around, his disc slicing through several virus carriers. Cubes began to pile up around Dyson as he continued to derez the infected programs, ignoring their rants and their screams as they died.

* * *

Paige's fingers flew across the keyboard, directing the various tools built into the code extraction device as she manipulated the virus carrier's code. Most of the yellow corrupted data was gone, and nothing bad had happened... yet.

"I think I've got it," said Paige as she removed the last few fragments of corrupt code. "Now to see if this actually works."

Paige removed the disc from the device, and collapsed her helmet so she could wipe away the nervous sweat that had formed on her brow. Paige attached the disc to the dock on the captured program's back. The program's circuit lines flickered, the sickly yellow glow replaced by white lines, and his severed hands recompiled, lacking the claws of an infected program. Beck knelt behind the cured program, and undid the restraints on the program's arms and legs.

"Looks like it works," said Beck as he walked out of the shipping container.

Paige nodded, and followed him out. "Now all we need to do is get to the infected before Dyson and the Black Guards do," she said, standing to Beck's left.

"You make it sound so easy," said Beck. He glanced over at her, and smiled as he met Paige's eyes. His smile faded as a glowing orange disc flew through the air between them. The disc sliced through the back of the unconscious program in the shipping container and ricocheted back to the thrower. Paige and Beck whirled around to face the attacker, and Paige rezzed her helmet again.

"Well, isn't this just precious," said Dyson as he caught his disc. "Not only is the Renegade playing dress up as Tron, he's convinced the Traitor to dress up as Yori, too. But I know who you really are behind those helmets, Paige... and _Beck_."

Beck collapsed his helmet and glared at Dyson. "So you figured it out. I guess I should congratulate you."

Dyson shrugged as the energy cord attached to his disc flared to life. "It wasn't that hard," he said. "You've made quite a name for yourself outside the white suit. Combine that with all the absences from Able's Garage, and the answer's fairly obvious."

"But you know the truth," said Beck. "Tron _is_ alive. And what makes you feel worse; the fact that Tron chose _me_ as his successor, or the fact that even a simple mechanic can see what's wrong with Clu's rule?"

With a yell, Dyson charged at Beck, swinging his disc by its energy cord. Beck rezzed his helmet and drew his disc, launching himself at Dyson. Paige grabbed her disc and ran after Beck, and the Traitor and the Renegade battled the Supreme Commander side by side.

* * *

The virus grabbed a program by the throat and held him up, his feet kicking as he tried to breathe with her hand around his throat. With a chuckle, Melissa brought her other hand back to stab him with his claws, then stopped. Melissa could sense her corruption spreading across the city, and felt the deaths of every virus carrier. However, she felt her link to one of the infected programs being severed, and not through the deresolution of an infected program. Melissa dropped the program in her grasp, and charged towards the nearest road. She leaped onto a passing light-cycle, and kicked the driver off. The program was knocked off the light-cycle, and run over by a passing freight vehicle. Melissa took control of the light-cycle, and the vehicle's light-lines began glowing a sickly yellow. With a flick of her thumb, she activated the cycle's light-wall, and a crackling yellow wall of energy sprung up behind her, leaving a trail of corruption behind her as she raced towards the docks.

* * *

"You're good, but you're no Tron!" Dyson yelled as Beck blocked another attack.

"I don't have to be as good as Tron," said Beck. "I just have to be better than you!"

Dyson dodged another attack, and blocked Paige's disc. The Supreme Commander grudgingly admitted in the privacy of his thought processes that Beck was indeed better than he was at the moment. He had the advantage in this fight; a second program to assist him, as well as being at full strength. Dyson was exhausted from fighting viruses, and he was alone. However, he did have a way to remedy the latter problem.

Dyson flipped backwards, and pressed a button on his arm. The low thrum of recognizer jets filled the air, and as the recognizer flew overhead, four Black Guards dropped from the vehicle, deploying their wing-chutes as they fell. As Beck and Paige engaged the Black Guards, the recognizer landed and the body lowered, allowing Dyson onboard.

"What's the situation?" Dyson asked as he entered the cockpit.

"There have been no quarantine breaches so far," said Pavel as the body of the recognizer was raised to its position at the top of the legs. "Virus carriers have dispersed throughout Argon City, and teams are dealing with them as we speak."

"And the main virus?" Dyson asked as the recognizer took off. "What's she up to?"

"We've received reports that she is headed to the docks," said Pavel. Pavel was silent for a second before speaking again. "Sir, what exactly were those two up to?"

"They apparently managed to remove the virus infection from a program," said Dyson. "I don't believe that it's possible to save an infected program, so I put it down. It would appear that the Melissa virus sensed it and is going to dispatch of the Traitor and the Renegade for us."

"Sir, is that wise?" asked Pavel. "If Melissa does infect Paige and the Renegade, the combat skills of those two could allow them to infect most of Argon. With that many programs infected, it would only be a matter of time before quarantine failed."

Dyson laughed. "The Melissa virus lost one of its programs to a new, untested procedure. It will no doubt be very angry at the loss of a program, and will most likely try to kill them to protect itself."

* * *

Beck flipped the Black Guard over his shoulder, and Paige rammed her disc into the Guardsman's chest as he flew towards her. Orange-lined voxels sparkled and faded around her as she spun around, blocking an attacking Guardsman's disc. She snapped a kick at his side, and as he staggered, she stabbed her disc into his chest, causing him to shatter into cubes. Paige ducked as Beck threw his disc. The disc soared above her head and collided with the oncoming disc of a Guardsman. Paige threw her own disc at the now unarmed Guardsman, and the disc sliced through his midsection, derezzing him. Beck caught his disc and deactivated the cutting edge. He then slammed his shoulder into the Guardsman's chest, knocking him backwards. The Guardsman tripped and landed on his back, and his helmeted head hit the ground with enough force to knock him out.

The roar of a light-cycle engine caught Beck's attention. Beck narrowed his eyes as he listened to the sound. The motor sounded like it was damaged, but still functional enough to be of use. A black cycle with yellow lines came racing towards Beck and Paige. The cloaked rider leaped off the cycle, landing next to the unconscious Guardsman, sending the riderless cycle flying towards Beck and Paige. The two white suited programs dove to either side, and the sickly yellow light-wall caused the ground beneath it to begin flickering the same sickly yellow colour. The cycle continued until it hit a shipping container, exploding in a shower of voxels. The rider reached up and pulled back her hood and collapsed her helmet, and Beck gasped. The virus's face was covered in glowing yellow cracks, and her eyes glowed the same yellow, but they were not the source of Beck's shock. A symbol was branded onto her forehead, a hexagon with a small T next to it.

Melissa was an ISO.

Beck glanced over at Paige, and she nodded in return. The two of them drew their discs and approached the corrupted ISO slowly. Melissa knelt next to the unconscious Guardsman, and rammed her hand into the Guardsman's chest. The Guardsman's circuit lines began to fade as Melissa's circuit lines grew brighter. The Guardsman crumbled into cubes once Melissa had drained him of his energy, and she stood up. She raised her hand, and a globe of yellow energy began to form between the claws. Melissa threw the ball at Paige, and Paige threw her disc at the ball, causing it to explode and spray corrupted energy in all directions. The virus-laden energy caused the ground to begin flickering a sickly yellow wherever it hit, and Melissa formed a ball in both of her hands. Beck threw his disc at Melissa, and Melissa ducked under it and threw a ball at him. Beck dove to the side and rolled. When he came back up, he caught his disc and docked it. He then drew his baton and activated the staff function, causing the ends to extend to form the weapon. Beck thrust at Melissa, and the virus blocked the blow with her clawed hand. She used her other hand to throw the second ball at Paige. Paige dodged the ball, and kicked Melissa in the chest. The virus staggered, then drew her disc and charged at Beck. As Melissa thrust at Beck, Paige brought her disc up and blocked the blow, causing sparks to fly as the two cutting edges contacted each other. Beck shoved his staff through the centre of Melissa's disc and pushed down while Paige rammed her shoulder into Melissa's chest.

Melissa staggered back, and then looked at her now empty hand. Beck flicked his staff up, and Paige caught Melissa's disc.

Melissa growled. "Give me back my disc!"

"I will," said Paige as she began backing up. "Once I've removed the corruption from your system."

"What?!"

"Enough ISOs have died already," said Beck. "We won't be responsible for the death of another."

Melissa screamed wildly as she bared her claws and charged at Paige. Beck got in front of her, and her clawed hands were stopped by the ends of his staff. Melissa slashed at Beck with her claws, and Beck continued to defend against her attacks, buying Paige time to examine the virus's disc and hopefully find a cure.

* * *

Paige ran into the open shipping container and slotted Melissa's disc into the code analysis and extraction device. She tapped a few keys, and waited for the analysis to finish. She glanced over her shoulder at Beck and Melissa. Beck was on the defensive, but it was clear to Paige that he was not in danger of falling to Melissa in combat any time soon.

The machine beeped, and Paige turned her attention back to the device. She frowned as she looked over the information the machine had provided about Melissa's virus. Rather than being a random mutation or addition to her code, it appeared as if segments of Melissa's code had instead been rearranged to form the virus. If Paige wanted to cure the infected ISO, she'd have to return the code to its original state. However, without knowing what Melissa's code had looked like before it had been rearranged, Paige wasn't sure if she could suceed.

Paige took a deep breath, and shook her head. This was no time for doubt or hesitation. If she made a single mistake, she would be responsible for killing Melissa. Old feelings of anger rose within her, and Paige repressed the misplaced anger, forcibly reminding herself that Tesler was responsible for the murder of her friends, not the ISOs. After pursuing her vendetta against ISOs for so long, she would not be responsible for the death of another ISO.

* * *

Beck blocked another slash from Melissa's claws, and retaliated by swinging the end of his staff at her head. Melissa leaned back, and swung her clawed hand up at the centre of the staff. Her claws sliced through the baton that formed the centre of the staff, and the weapon began to collapse into glowing yellow voxels. Beck tossed the useless halves of the staff aside as the two halves shattered. He dodged the slashes from Melissa's claws and fired a fast pair of punches to Melissa's side. Melissa grunted and staggered back. She formed a ball and thrust her hand at Beck, launching the ball at him. Beck ducked, and the ball flew over his head. The ball hit the side of the shipping container Paige was in and stuck to the side, slowly melting a hole in the container wall. Melissa charged at Beck, and Beck sidestepped and punched her again. Melissa tried to backhand him, but Beck grabbed Melissa's wrist. The corrupted ISO attempted to stab Beck with the claws of her other hand, and Beck grabbed her other wrist as well. Melissa had her back to the shipping container, so she didn't see Paige running out with a disc that was glowing a healthy white. She did hear Paige's footsteps, and looked at Paige over her shoulder. Paige lunged forward and connected Melissa's disc with the socket on her back, and Melissa's yellow eyes flashed white as the disc resynchronised with her. Melissa froze as the changes to her code began to take place, and Beck released his hold on her. The sickly yellow of her main circuit lines was restored to the standard white colour, but the highlight lines on her arms and legs remained yellow. The cracks on her skin and grid-suit flashed white, then began to heal. The yellow glow faded from her eyes, and Melissa's eyes returned to their original green. The ISO symbol branded into her forehead remained, as did her clawed hands. Melissa collapsed as the changes ended, panting heavily.

"Are you all right?" Paige asked.

Melissa nodded slowly. "You... you saved me..." she whispered. "Why...?"

"It's like B-" Paige stopped and cleared her throat. "It's like the Renegade said. We didn't want to be responsible for the death of another ISO."

"Besides, my friend here was a medic before she was branded a traitor," said Beck. "She wasn't going to sit back and let you suffer when your actions weren't your fault."

"Not my fault?" asked Melissa. The ISO laughed bitterly. "Tell that to all the programs who have been derezzed because of me."

"How much do you remember?" Paige asked.

Melissa looked up at Paige's helmeted head with haunted eyes. "Everything," she said. "Everything I did while I was infected; all the kills, the screams... I remember it all." Melissa lowered her head again. "You should've just killed me."

"Derezzing programs should be our last resort, rather than the first option we take," said Beck. "We're trying to save the Grid from Clu. We can't do that if we use the same methods he does."

"Besides, if we can save you, we could save any other program you've infected," said Paige. "We'll save as many as we can."

Beck nodded. "But first, we need to find a new hiding spot. More Black Guards or infected programs could show up soon."

* * *

The program shut the door behind him as he entered the room.

"No sign of pursuit," he said, his voice heavily distorted by the angular helmet he was wearing. "The viruses seem to be disorganised without Melissa to lead them. The Black Guards were too busy derezzing infected programs to pay attention to us.

Beck glanced at the program. His grid-suit was jet-black, and the only light-lines visible were short marks on his arms and shoulders.

"How'd you get past the quarantine?" Beck asked. "I thought you were still back at your hideout."

"I was," said Tron. "But I heard about the virus outbreak, and figured you could use some extra help. Besides, they were more worried about programs getting out rather than getting in."

"How much longer do you think we'll have to wait here?" Beck asked.

"Depends on how long Dyson takes to finish exterminating the infected," said Tron. "We should probably wait for a millicycle once he lifts the quarantine, so we don't get caught in the rush of programs leaving."

Beck nodded. "We should probably capture more of the virus carriers so Paige can cure them."

"What are you going to do with all the programs you cure?" Tron asked.

"Smuggle them out of Argon," said Beck. "I'll give them the option to join the Uprising. If they decline, we'll sneak them into another nearby city to start a new life."

Tron nodded. "I wouldn't have thought to try and cure the virus carriers," said Tron. "I would've derezzed them all as soon as I had a chance."

"Why?" asked Beck.

"Because they're threats to the Grid," said Tron. "I'm a security program, Beck. My first instinct is to remove threats from the Grid by eliminating them." Tron paused. "But you and Paige found another way, one that didn't involve killing. I think you'd be a better leader for the Uprising than I am."

"But... you're Tron!"

"Yes, I am," he said. "But you're the one who wants to save everyone, even programs that no-one else would, like virus carriers. Your desire to save people is what makes you a better leader than me." Tron was silent for a second before continuing. "I just want to eliminate a threat to the System," he said. "And get revenge on Clu," Tron finished, so softly Beck didn't hear it as he left to capture another virus carrier.

* * *

There are quite a few references to Abraxas in this episode. For those who don't know, Abraxas is the primary villain of the video game Tron Evolution. Abraxas was a virus created by Clu to destabilise the Grid and make Flynn look incompetent so that programs would be willing to support his coup. There is a very bare bones summary of the plot of Evolution in this story. The summary in-story is also inaccurate, because the program giving the summary does not know all the details of what happened. Amusingly, John Glover voiced both Abraxas and Dyson. Ironically, Abraxas is basically everything Dyson despises.

There are also a few references to the 'other' sequel, the 2003 video game Tron 2.0. I'll leave them for you to find. ;)

I'll get started on the next episode soon. I'm not sure what it will be titled, but I do have a general idea of what might happen. Won't post any details so I don't end up contradicting myself at any point. :p

-ShortyBoss.


	6. Purpose

Apologies for the long delay, but real life is a pain. Also, this chapter comes with a warning.

This chapter contains an attempted suicide. Reader discretion is advised.

We now return you to your irregularly scheduled reading.

* * *

Accessing archived data...

Paige becomes the newest face of the Uprising...

_...When Paige docked her disc, her eyes flashed briefly before a wave of white rippled across her body. In a few seconds, her grid suit had been replaced with Yori's, and the deep blue triangle and semi-circle design flashed brightly..._

_"...The Traitor is now a wanted program," said Dyson..._

...And begins working alongside Beck.

_...Beck dropped and swept his leg across, knocking a Guardsman down. Paige kicked the other Guardsman in the face, shattering his helmet and knocking him out. The Black Guard Beck had tripped was getting back to his feet when Paige punched him in the back of the head, knocking him out as well..._

Meanwhile, a new threat appears in Argon City...

_...With a snarl, the infected Guardsman bared his claws and charged at the two uninfected Guards. One of the Guards drew his disc and threw it at the infected Guardsman, and the infected program was derezzed as the disc sliced through his head._

_"Virus outbreak," said the Black Guardsman as he caught his disc. "Inform Supreme Commander Dyson, immediately!"_

* * *

The female program stood on the rooftop, gazing out over Argon City. In the distance, sounds of combat rang out as a squad of Black Guards fought another group of virus infected programs... a virus she had spread.

She glanced down at her hands. Her fingers were now tipped with sharp claws, and even though she had been cured, the claws had remained, as did the glowing ISO symbol burned into her forehead.

The wind howled around her, causing her cloak to flap in the wind, and the teardrops rolling down her cheeks were blown across the rooftop. She lowered her hands, took a deep breath to steady herself, closed her eyes... then stepped off the roof and began to fall.

* * *

**TRON:Uprising**

**Purpose**

* * *

Paige sprinted towards the edge of the rooftop and reached out, diving to reach Melissa. Paige managed to grasped Melissa's wrist, and the female ISO gasped in shock and pain as her fall was halted. Melissa looked up, and saw Paige holding onto her arm with one hand, while her other hand braced herself as she lay on the rooftop.

"Wh-what are you...?" asked the ISO.

"I didn't save your life so you could go and derez yourself," Paige said.

"But... why? I... I infected all those programs... and now they're being exterminated like gridbugs... and it's all because of me."

"You're not the only program with the deaths of others on your hands," said Paige.

"Then you know how I feel!" yelled Melissa. "I deserve to die! It's all my fault!"

"_No!_" Paige snapped. "It's not your fault! It's the fault of whoever messed with your code to turn you into a virus."

"That doesn't matter!" said Melissa. "Those people are being killed because I infected them!"

"Killing yourself won't do anything to atone for that!" said Paige. "If you want to make up for that, then you have to live so you can do something about it!"

Melissa was silent, so Paige continued speaking. "I was the only program to survive the Gallium Massacre... and those programs were executed because I treated an ISO's injuries. Ever since then, I've blamed myself for their deaths, thought about what I could've done to prevent it."

Paige sighed. "But there's no point dwelling on the past. The only way to make up for my mistakes is to live, and do something to atone for it."

Melissa said nothing as she gazed up at Paige in shock. She then twisted her hand around to grab Paige's wrist, then held up her other hand. Paige grabbed Melissa's hand with her free hand, and pulled the ISO back up onto the rooftop.

"Thank you..." Melissa trailed off as she realised she didn't know her rescuer's real name.

Paige collapsed her helmet, and her gridsuit rippled, switching from Yori's white suit to her standard black suit with orange circuit lines.

"Paige," she said. "My name is Paige."

"You used to work for the Occupation," said Melissa.

Paige nodded. "Another one of my mistakes. But I'm not going to run from my mistakes. I'm going to do something to fix them." Paige turned around, and started walking towards the door.

"Let's get back inside," she said as she switched back to Yori's white gridsuit. "The Renegade should be back soon, and when he arrives, I'll have to remove the corrupted coding from any infected programs he captured."

* * *

Dyson examined the map of Argon that shimmered in the air in front of him. There were several yellow patches on the map, denoting locations where virus carriers had been sighted and neutralised. Dyson adjusted a dial, and the yellow areas began to spread and retreat, showing the movements of the infected programs over the last two millicycles.

"Hmm," muttered Dyson. "The viruses clearly start pushing towards the docks after about three hundred microcycles, which would probably be around the time I ran into the Traitor and the Renegade at that location. After that, though, the viruses start acting far more disorganised. Was their leader killed... or did those bit-brains attempt to extract the virus from her?"

Dyson sighed and shook his head. "No, that should be impossible. When Clu tried to cure an Abraxas virus, it triggered an automatic self-derez. Of course, Melissa _is_ different from Abraxas..."

The Supreme Commander pressed another button, two holographic images sprung to life. On the left, a hooded and helmeted male program with claws and glowing yellow cracks in his gridsuit. On the right, a female program, also with a hood and helmet, with the same claws and cracked gridsuit.

"She seems to be using his image, although that might be because Abraxas is rather infamous."

The hologram began to play. On the left, Abraxas grabbed a program by the throat and held him up as the victim's circuit lines began flickering. On the right, Melissa raked her claws through a program's chest, and the infected program collapsed and began thrashing about.

The sound of a throat being cleared brought Dyson out of his musings. The Supreme Commander glanced over his shoulder at the Black Guardsman that had disturbed him.

"Yes?"

"Pavel has taken a recognizer and a squad of Guards and left the flagship, sir."

"Did you plant the tracking device before he left?" asked Dyson.

"Yes, sir," said the Guardsman. "He appears to be heading to Able's Garage."

"Again?" asked Dyson. "Wonder what he's up to..."

Dyson straightened, and folded his arms behind his back. "Prepare a light-copter," he said. "I'm going to find out what Pavel's up to. Hopefully, I won't have to kill him."

"Yes, sir!"

* * *

Beck slid the unconscious virus carrier off his shoulder, and rolled him over and detached his disc from his back. Beside him, a helmeted male program in a black gridsuit with minimal circuit lines did the same.

"I've got good news, and I've got bad news," said Beck as he passed the infected program's disc to Paige.

"Dare I ask what the good news is?" said Paige.

"The spread of the virus is slowing down," said Beck. "It seems that not every infected program can spread the infection further."

"I assume the bad news is an updated warrant for the pair of us?" asked Paige.

"You'd be right," Beck said. He drew his disc and held it out in front of him. A hologram of Paige's warrant floated above Beck's disc.

"Wanted alive for treason, seditious activity, sheltering virus infected programs and sharing Occupation information with known rebels," Paige read. "Commander Paige may be disguised as the program Yori. The Traitor is extremely dangerous and should not be approached. If sighted, contact Occupation forces immediately."

"It's quite the list," said Beck. "I've got a similar list attached to my warrant." Beck slid his finger across the hologram above his disc, and Paige's warrant was replaced with his own.

"I see Dyson added your name and picture," said Paige.

"You shouldn't have confirmed your identity," said the helmeted male program beside Beck.

"He'd already figured it out," said Beck. "Besides, it was only a matter of time before the truth got out."

"So, you're not Tron," said Melissa.

Beck collapsed his helmet, revealing his face to the ISO. "No, I'm not." Beck them pointed to the helmeted program beside him. "He is, though."

Tron collapsed his helmet, and his standard circuit lines flashed into existence on his black gridsuit.

The ISO gasped. "Tron! But... Clu said you were derezzed."

"Clu says a lot of things," Tron said. "You, of all programs, should know that."

"Well, of course I didn't believe Clu at first!" snapped Melissa. "But... after so long without the Creator's Champion, I began to think that you really were dead..."

"I was in hiding," said Tron, crossing his arms. "Recovering from injuries I sustained during Clu's coup."

Melissa nodded, and turned to face Beck. "All those stories I heard about the Renegade of Argon... were they about you, or Tron?"

"They were probably about me," said Beck. "Tron's code was altered to prevent his wounds from fully healing, so he needed someone else to take up his name. I'm becoming the public face of the Uprising, while Tron is in charge of our strategy."

Tron nodded. "The Uprising has gained several new recruits recently, but I'm still training them. When I think they're ready, we'll begin taking the fight to Dyson and liberate Argon. But first, we need to deal with this virus outbreak and get the quarantine lifted."

"We'd better get back out there," said Beck as his helmet formed. "We need to get to the infected programs before the Occupation troops derez them."

* * *

The machine had been cobbled together from junk Pavel had salvaged from the wreckage of the massive Recognizer that had crashed not far from Able's Garage. Using blueprints he'd located in the memory banks on-board the Recognizer, he'd pieced the machine back together. Some of the components had been too badly damaged, so Pavel had used the tools and materials available in the abandoned workshop to fabricate replacements. Hopefully, he'd managed to give Dyson and his spies the slip...

"Sir, we have the prisoner you requested," said a heavily armoured Guard.

Pavel glanced at the two Guards, and the unconscious virus carrier being carried by them.

"Good," Pavel said. "Put him into the chamber."

"Yes, sir," said the Guard.

Pavel turned back to his console and pressed a button. A door opened in the transparent tube, and the two Guards unceremoniously tossed the unconscious program inside. The door closed, leaving no sign it had been there.

"So, _this_ is what you've been up to," said a voice from the entrance to the Garage, causing Pavel to freeze in fear.

"You've successfully reconstructed the repurposing device that was destroyed when the Mobile Repurposing Unit crashed," said Dyson, walking up to him. "When were you planning to inform me about this?"

"When I was certain it worked," said Pavel smoothly. "With so many damaged components that required replacing, I wasn't sure if the repurposing chamber would work, or if would simply explode instead."

"If you'll allow me to have a look, I'm sure I'll be able to find any flaws in the device," said Dyson. "After all, I helped Clu design the current generation of repurposing chambers."

"R-really?" asked Pavel.

Dyson nodded as he began inspecting the chamber. "Yes. Clu designed the original repurposing racks, so named because he took the Master Control Program's decompiler torture racks from the Old System and modified them. With my assistance, we developed the chamber system that is currently in use. Unfortunately, the process is still relatively slow, and Clu has expressed an interest in creating a faster system."

Dyson finished his inspection of the chamber's exposed wiring, and nodded. "No physical defects that I can see." The Supreme Commander glanced at the console Pavel was standing in front of. "May I?"

Pavel bit back a refusal. "Of course," he said, managing to keep his frustration out of his voice.

Dyson tapped a few keys, and a stream of code scrolled down the screen. Dyson tapped a section of code, enlarging it. Dyson began typing commands into the keyboard, altering the code.

"Is there a problem?" Pavel asked, mentally cursing Dyson.

"Oh, just a small... _mistake_ in the loyalty code, easily fixed," said Dyson with a shrug. "The data must have been corrupted in the crash."

Dyson briefly glanced at Pavel. Pavel could tell that Dyson knew that the 'mistake' had not been caused by the crash, and was providing Pavel with a way to save face that would not result in him being derezzed for sedition.

"Yes, that must be it," said Pavel, a little too quickly. "As it was the only example of the repurposing code available, I had no idea there were any errors."

Dyson nodded as he finished fixing the code. "Understandable," he said. "It's a good thing I found it then; wouldn't want to undermine Clu's authority with your own personal army, would you?"

_Not's Clu's authority_, thought Pavel. _Yours_.

Out loud, he said, "I had no idea that error existed. I assure you, I would not dream of undermining Clu." Pavel had to resist the urge to smile at that. After all, what he had just was technically true.

Dyson closed the code. "No smart program would," said Dyson. "I see you have a program in the chamber for the... test..."

Dyson trailed off as he examined the program in the chamber.

"A virus carrier?!" Dyson yelled. "Have you got your head stuck in defrag?! Viruses are supposed to be destroyed on sight!"

"Sir, the infected program was a Sentry," said Pavel. "If the repurposing works, the virus's code will be cleansed, and replaced with the new code designed by Clu."

"And if it doesn't work?" Dyson asked.

Pavel pointed to a red button near the bottom of the console. "Pressing that button will electrify the chamber and derez the program inside."

"I see," said Dyson. He was silent for a micro-cycle. "Very well. We'll test it on the virus carrier."

Dyson pressed a button on the console, and the chamber whirred to life. A siren clanged three times.

"Initiating cleansing," said the female voice of the Grid.

The program inside the tank stood rigidly as his disc detached from his back, and moved to hover horizontally above his head.

"Preparing for code extraction," said the voice.

The virus carrier's eyes rolled back, exposing the whites as he tilted his head back and reached for his disc, which floated just out of his reach.

"Data removal commencing."

A glowing light appeared on the program's forehead, and two yellow streams of data streamed up through the disc towards the receptacle at the top of the chamber, spiralling around each other. The yellow light faded from the program's circuit lines, replaced with the standard white. The claws that had formed on his hands disappeared, leaving him with normal fingers again. The cracks in his skin began to heal rapidly. Once the two streams had finished streaming into the receptacle, it retracted, and was replaced with a second receptacle that glowed orange.

"Cleansing complete. Countdown to repurposing in five... four... three... two... one... Repurposing commencing."

Two streams of orange-red code spiralled downwards from the receptacle, passing through the disc and entering the program through his forehead. The program's circuit lines began to glow orange, starting from his feet and slowly filling up towards his head.

"Repurposing complete," said the voice of the Grid. The program lowered his arms, and his disc reattached itself. Once reattached, the program's circuit lines flickered into the standard Sentry pattern, and a Sentry helmet formed around his head. The chamber opened, and the Sentry stepped out and turned to face Dyson, standing at attention.

"Reporting for duty, Supreme Commander," said the newly repurposed Sentry.

Dyson paused, and folded his arms behind his back as he regained his compusure.

"Report to the flagship for a full medical evaluation," said Dyson.

"Yes sir," said the Sentry. The Sentry saluted, and began walking out. Two Black Guards that had arrived with Dyson escorted the Sentry out. Dyson turned to a third Black Guard.

"If that program passes the medical evaluation and is determined to have no traces of viral infection left, change the standing order for dealing with infected programs," said Dyson. "All infected programs are to be captured if possible and taken to the flagship. They'll be taken from there to Able's Garage for repurposing."

"Understood, sir." The Black Guard bowed, and turned to follow the others.

"Pavel, do you think you could construct more of these?"

"Yes, but it would take time," said Pavel slowly. "At least a millicycle to construct even one."

"A slow pace," said Dyson. "I'll see if any mechanic programs have been rounded up for breaking curfew, either in Argon or one of the neighbouring cities. I'm sure they'll be willing to work for us indefinitely if it means they don't have to compete in the Games."

* * *

Beck stiffened as a scream rang out.

"Go," said Tron, shouldering an unconscious virus carrier. "I'll take this program back to Paige."

"Right," said Beck. The former mechanic sprinted up a nearby set of stairs and climbed onto the rooftop.

The hum of an active identity disc reached Beck's ears.

"I'm just a courier program!" a male voice yelled. "Leave me alone!"

As Beck made his way across the rooftop, the disc's hum changed pitch, and there was a sound of shattering glass as a program was derezzed.

"You will see the freedom Melissa offers," growled a virus carrier, her voice crackling with static. "You and every other program in this city will be libera-_gah!_"

There was a thump as a body hit the ground, and the snapping sound of an identity disc activating rang out.

"Get out of here," said a heavily distorted voice. "I'll handle this."

"R-right!"

Beck ran towards the alleyway, and saw a male program ducking down a side path. A virus carrier lunged at a Black Guard with her claws, but the Guardsman blocked the blow with his disc, then rammed his elbow into the virus carrier's forehead, knocking her out. Beck spotted a pile of cube-like voxels near the entrance of the alleyway, and another unconscious virus carrier. A second, female Black Guard swung her leg, tripping another virus carrier. She then kicked another infected program in the chest, knocking him down to the ground.

Beck grabbed his disc and dropped down into the alleyway, landing with a thump. The Black Guards whirled around, raising their discs into combat poses.

"Why did you leave the virus carriers alive?" Beck asked, not really expecting an answer.

The male Black Guard paused for a second, then slowly lowered his disc. "Our standing orders changed about seventy-five microcycles ago. We were ordered to take as many virus carriers captive as possible, then take them to Dyson's flagship."

"Tup, what are you doing?!" hissed the Guardswoman, her disc still raised and active. "Why are you telling the Renegade this?!"

"Because whatever Dyson has planned for the infected programs can't be good!" snapped the male Guardsman, Tup. "You're as uneasy about this as I am, Jesse. Why would Dyson suddenly order us to start capturing virus carriers?"

"But what can we do about it?" said the Guardswoman, Jesse. "Are you planning on marching into Dyson's office and demanding an explanation? Because that's a good way to get yourself derezzed."

"I saw Dyson take a recognizer out to Able's Garage with some of the captured infected programs," said Tup. "Whatever Dyson's doing with them, it's happening there."

"But that still doesn't explain what Dyson's planning," said Jesse. "And if we go there without permission, we'll probably be executed for treason!"

"I think I know what Dyson's up to," said Beck. The two Black Guards turned to face him.

"He's found a way to cure the virus... and ensure that the cured programs are loyal to Clu above all else."

"Are you... talking about repurposing?" asked Jesse, lowering her disc.

Beck nodded. "What do you two know about repurposing?"

"I've only heard stories from the other Guards," said Tup.

"A friend of mine was sent off to be repurposed," said Jesse. "When he got back... he was... he was just a mindless drone, following orders." The Guardswoman's breath hitched. "He didn't even recognise me. It was terrifying."

"Wait," said Tup. "Programs scheduled for repurposing were sent to the capital. When did a repurposing device arrive in Argon?"

"It's a long story," said Beck. "I don't really have time to waste telling it again."

"Earlier, you said that you were trying to find a way to cure the virus," said Tup. "Were you successful?"

"Wait... _you're_ the Black Guard I saved from the viruses?"

Tup nodded. "I thought about what you said, and I realised you were right. The virus carriers do deserve a chance. Can you cure them?"

Beck nodded. "We've already saved about half a dozen infected programs. We've even managed to cure Melissa of the virus."

"What?!" The two Black Guards asked in unison.

"Is your head stuck in defrag?!" Jesse asked. "She's the source of the virus! What if she goes into remission?"

"She won't," said Beck. "I trust my partner's work." Beck paused. "Can I trust you two?"

Tup and Jesse glanced at each other. "We were part of the Argon Security Elite Guard before the Occupation arrived," said Jesse. "Tesler had us absorbed into his army, along with the rest of the Security Force. When Dyson arrived, he started sending us off to be repurposed."

"Tesler didn't like relying on repurposed soldiers," said Tup. "Said he preferred his troops if they still had the ability to think for themselves."

"There's only a few of us that haven't been repurposed," said Jesse. "Now that Dyson has a repurposing device in Argon... well, once this virus situation is over, we'll be next."

"Do you want to leave the Occupation?" asked Beck.

Jesse laughed bitterly. "Rex tried that when Dyson sent him off to be repurposed," she said. "Dyson cut him down in nanocycles."

"But he's busy with the virus situation at the moment," said Tup. "If we want to desert, now's the best time to do it. We might even be able to convince the others to come with us."

"I don't know," said Jesse. "Two of us might be able to sneak around unnoticed, maybe even three. But all six of us?"

"We can pretend we're on patrol," said Tup. "As long as no-one asks us for our work schedules, we should be safe."

"Meet me back here when you're ready," said Beck. "I'll lead you to our current safe-house. Once this virus situation is over, I'll take you to our hideout in the Outlands."

"How will you recognise us?" Jesse asked.

Beck grabbed the multi-tool at his waist and passed it to Jesse. "Give this back to me when you return," said Beck. "That's how I'll recognise you."

Jesse nodded, and glanced around at the unconscious virus carriers. "Do you need help with these virus carriers?"

Beck shook his head. "I'll be alright," he said. "You two better get going."

"Right."

The two Black Guards turned and ran out the alley, and Beck stiffened as he heard footsteps behind him.

"Recruiting enemy soldiers now?" said a heavily distorted voice.

Beck glanced over his shoulder as Tron, still disguised, walked up to Beck.

"You never cease to amaze me," said Tron as he collapsed his helmet.

Beck smiled as he collapsed his own faceplate, but his expression quickly grew serious. "Do you think I might have just made a mistake?"

"We'll find out soon enough," said Tron. "Come on, let's get these infected programs to Paige."

* * *

"Are you insane? Running off with the Renegade-!"

"Do you want to be responsible for hundreds of innocent programs being repurposed, Kix?" Jesse asked. "We're supposed to protect the citizens of Argon, not strip them of their free will! Do you want all those programs to end up like Appo?"

"Of course not!" Kix hissed as she crossed her arms. "But joining the Renegade is suicide!"

"Maybe not," said a male. "He's managed to avoid capture for some time. If we're careful, we should be alright."

"Speak for yourself, Cody," said another female. "You're _always_ careful."

"Well, it's paid off so far, hasn't it, Hawkeye?" Cody said. "Besides, you've said it yourself; we're not protecting programs any more, we're _oppressing_ them."

"But what can we _do_?" Hawkeye asked, her voice full of despair. "Six of us against the entire Occupation? We wouldn't last five microcycles."

Tup turned to face the last member of their group. "Echo? You've been pretty quiet. Got anything to say?"

Echo sighed. "Look, you guys all know how I feel about orders and rules," he said.

"Yeah, there's a reason we call you Echo," said Hawkeye, before Cody nudged her to be silent.

"But the orders we've been receiving are... they're wrong," said Echo. "We were programmed to protect the citizens of Argon, but we haven't done anything to stop the real threats, like the Games and the abuses of power from Tesler's other soldiers." Echo straightened, and looked his friends in the eyes. "I say we join the Renegade. I'd rather be derezzed doing the right thing than live a long life hating myself for not standing up for the programs I'm supposed to protect."

Hawkeye sighed. "You can be surprisingly charismatic when you're not quoting rules and regs," she muttered. She then cocked her head to the side and raised a hand for silence. After a few seconds, her eyes widened as the sound of footsteps reached her ears. "Someone's coming!"

The conversation stopped as a Sentry walked up to the group. "Squad Six, report to Dyson's flagship immediately."

"What's the reason for this?" Cody asked. "We're supposed to be stationed here."

"You are being shipped to a repurposing facility, so that you may be repurposed for greater efficiency," said the Sentry, before he glanced at Tup and Jesse. "Six-Five and Six-Six, what are you doing back at base? You're supposed to be on patrol."

Jesse drew her disc and rammed it into the Sentry's chest. With a shattering sound, the Sentry collapsed into voxels.

"Well, that's just great," muttered Kix. "Now what?"

"We have to get out of here," said Cody. "I am not letting Dyson repurpose my squad."

A pair of Guards approached, and saw Jesse standing over the remains of the Sentry with her disc drawn. The Guards leveled their staffs at Jesse.

"Rogue programs spotted!" said one of the Guards. Hawkeye responded by drawing and throwing her disc in one smooth movement. Hawkeye's disc sliced through the Guard's head, derezzing him. Echo lunged forward and grabbed the Guard's staff as it fell, and swung it low, tripping the other Guard. Echo then slammed the staff into the Guard's chest and derezzed him.

"We'll have to fight our way out," said Cody as alarms began to blare. "Rez your helmets!"

"How are we supposed to identify each other if we've all got our helmets on?" Echo asked.

Hawkeye caught her disc as it boomeranged back and held it in front of her. A hologram of her grid-suit hovered above the disc, and she made an adjustment to it. When she docked her disc, her circuit lines flashed as they changed from the orange of the Occupation to the standard white of the Grid.

"I always preferred having white lines," said Hawkeye. "Besides, no System Monitor programs use it these days; everyone's using Occupation Orange now."

"Good call, Hawkeye," said Cody as he drew his disc and did the same. The rest of Squad Six followed his lead and changed over to white circuit lines.

Cody activated his helmet, and the featureless face-plate slid into place. "We need to get out of here," he said. "Squad Six, move out!"

* * *

"There's no sign of any more infected programs," said Beck, lowering his binoculars.

"I guess the Occupation managed to round them up," said Paige. "Users, the death toll must have been in the hundreds."

"And if Dyson is curing virus carriers by repurposing them, he's just gotten a small boost to his fighting forces," said Tron.

"How many did we rescue?" Beck asked.

"A dozen, including Melissa," said Paige. "Most of the programs that were infected don't want to join us, but there are a few who do."

Beck nodded. "Once we get them out of Argon, we'll get them to somewhere like Bismuth or Gallium, so they can start fresh. We'll take the ones who want to join us back to the base."

"How are we going to get that many programs out of Argon?" Paige asked.

"Well, Dyson hasn't found our safe-house yet, which means we should have some time," said Beck. "The quarantine will probably be lifted soon. We'll leave Argon in groups of two or three."

"Beck, I think you might want to see this," said Tron. The older program lowered his binoculars and pointed. Beck raised his binoculars to his face and looked at the area Tron was pointing to.

"There's a group of Black Guards down near the highway," said Tron.

"I see them," said Beck. "And they're using white circuit lines instead of orange ones."

"The defectors?"

"Most likely," said Beck. "I can see a group of Guards and Black Guards heading towards them. Looks like they're in trouble."

"How many did those two say they were bringing?" Paige asked.

"I think Jesse mentioned there were six of them," Beck said. "I'm not quite sure."

"I count six Black Guards with white circuit lines," said Tron. "I think it's safe to say its our defectors."

"We have to help them," said Beck. "Come on!"

* * *

Tup slashed with his disc, and the Black Guard he was fighting blocked the attack with his own disc. Cody was battling a pair of Guards with his staff, standing back-to-back with Echo, who was battling a Guard with his disc. Hawkeye threw her disc, and the disc sliced through a Black Guard. The disc then bounced off a wall and struck another Black Guard, derezzing them both. Jesse and Kix were battling a pair of Black Guards with their discs. Tup derezzed his opponent, and glanced up as a recognizer flew over them and landed near them.

Echo muttered a few nasty strings of hexadecimal code. "Enemy reinforcements are here! We won't last much longer!"

"Then take as many of them with you as you can!" Cody yelled as Black Guards began to exit the landed vehicle. Cody swung his staff, and smashed through the chests of both his opponents, derezzing them. He turned to face the reinforcements, and noticed a black-clad program with no visible circuit lines and an angular helmet standing atop the recognizer. The disguised program leaped off the recognizer, and drew the baton attached to his leg, activating the staff. The program swung the staff expertly, knocking the Black Guards down with ease. Two programs in white grid-suits, the Renegade and the Traitor, soon joined the disguised program, and defeated the remaining Black Guards. With the reinforcements down, the black-clad program returned his baton to his leg, and collapsed his helmet.

Echo gasped. "Is that...?"

"Clu said..." began Kix.

"It can't be..." muttered Hawkeye.

"It's him," said Tup.

"I don't believe it," Jesse whispered.

Cody straightened to attention and saluted the Creator's Champion. "Sir, Argon Security Elite Guard Squad Six, reporting for duty, sir!" Behind him, the rest of his squad snapped out of their dazed states and stood at attention and saluted as well.

Tron nodded. "At ease," he said. "And welcome to the Uprising."

"Thank you, sir," said Cody. "We're honoured to be working with Flynn's Champion, sir."

"We need to get moving," said Beck as he walked up. "Paige is taking control of the recognizer. We can fly it to the safe-house and pick up the programs we've saved, then try to make a run for it."

"If we try to break through while the quarantine is up, we'll be slaughtered," said Cody.

"Do you six have batons on you?" Beck asked.

"Yeah," said Cody slowly.

"Have you got light-jet subroutines on them?"

Cody nodded. "You want us to fly escort for the recognizer when we make the escape," said Cody.

The Renegade nodded. "With more programs flying cover, we might have a better chance of escape," Beck said. The white-suited program then began walking towards the recognizer. "Of course, we'll need to pick up our passengers first."

"I have good news," said Paige as Cody followed the Renegade and Tron onto the recognizer's bridge.

"That's a first," said the Renegade. "What is it?"

"Dyson just lifted the quarantine," said the Traitor. "In a few microcycles, the blockades will have finished dispersing and we can make our escape."

"Good," Beck said. "We'll head to the safe-house and collect the programs there. If there are any who know how to fly a recognizer, we can have them fly this thing while you fly a light-jet on escort during the escape."

Paige nodded. "Who else will be flying escort?"

"Tron, myself, and our squad of defectors," said Beck. He then turned his helmeted head to Cody. "I hope you can handle it."

"We'll be ready, sir," said Cody.

* * *

Paige tapped a button, and lowered the body of the recognizer and opened the boarding ramp. She walked out of the cockpit, picking up a baton and attaching it to her leg as she did so.

"We've arrived," she said as she passed Squad Six. "Get outside and ready to launch. I'll have the other programs on-board soon."

"Understood, sir," said Cody as the defectors stood up and followed her out of the recognizer.

Once she had left the vehicle, Paige ran to the door of the safe-house and opened it.

"You're back!" said one of the cured programs. "What's going on?"

"We're leaving," said Paige. "Does anyone here know how to fly a recognizer?"

"I do," said Melissa, holding up a clawed hand. "I used to fly freight before the ISO wars."

"Why should we trust you, _virus_?" spat one of the programs.

"She's as much a victim of this virus as you are," Paige snapped. "Her code was altered to turn her into a virus. I don't know who did it or why, but it is not Melissa's fault."

"Easy for you to say," said Melissa bitterly. "You're not the one who spread the infection to innocent programs."

"You're actions weren't your own," said Paige softly. "You were influenced by the virus... and you aren't the only one here who spread the infection."

As she said that, Paige glared at the other cured programs, and none of them met her eyes.

Paige sighed. "There's a recognizer outside. Melissa will fly it out of Argon and into the Outlands. Once we're out of the city, we'll lead you to our hideout, then take you to Bismuth or Gallium to start a new life."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Melissa asked. "The quarantine-"

"Has been lifted," said Paige. "The blockades should have dispersed by now. We need to leave now."

"What about you?" asked another program, a female with teal highlights.

"I'll be flying on a light-jet, giving you cover with the Renegade and a few others," said Paige. "Now, let's go."

Melissa nodded, and walked past Paige to the recognizer. After a few seconds of hesitation, the other programs followed suit.

"Do you think she can do it?" Beck asked as he walked up to her.

"I hope so," said Paige as she watched the programs getting on board the recognizer.

"Only twelve programs," said Beck quietly. "That's how many we rescued. How many do you think Dyson had killed or repurposed?"

"Far too many," said Paige. "Not only that, but the programs of Argon really believe he was doing the right thing. They didn't know there was another way."

"That's because that other didn't exist," said Tron, still wearing his helmet. "You two were the first to try and cure infected programs, rather than derez them. Let's just hope there aren't any infected still roaming the city."

Paige nodded, and glanced over at the recognizer. "Looks like the last program is on board," said Paige as the recognizer's boarding hatch closed and the body rose to its standard position at the top of the legs. "We'd better get in the air as well."

Paige grabbed her baton and leaped into the air, pulling the baton apart. A white wireframe of light spread from the baton, and the frame was filled with solid metal as the light-jet formed underneath her. As she rose into the air, she glanced around her, and saw eight other light-jets rising into the skies above Argon, circling the stolen recognizer. The recognizer's red light-lines flickered and changed to the original white colour, the same colour as the light-lines on the nine light-jets escorting it.

"Looks like we've been spotted!" yelled Beck as he came up alongside her. He pointed at Dyson's flagship, which was pointed in their direction. Paige saw a swarm of dots flying out of the massive ship's hangars as Black Guards on light-jets came flying towards them.

"Stay focused on getting out of the city!" ordered Tron. "Squad Six, be prepared to run interference!"

"There's no way we'll be able to survive against that many!" said Hawkeye.

"Then we'll take as many with us as we can!" said Cody. "Echo, Jesse, with me! We'll buy the others some time!"

Cody broke off, flanked by Echo and Jesse. The three light-jets flew towards the oncoming mass of glowing red dots.

"Tup, Kix, Hawkeye!" yelled Cody. "Stay with the others! Do not come back and help us! That is an order! Do you copy?!"

Silence for several seconds. Finally, in a ragged voice, Hawkeye replied. "I... I copy, sir.

* * *

"We're really not gonna make it out of this one alive, are we?" asked Jesse sadly.

"No," said Cody as he primed his light-jet's laser cannons.

"Just for the record," said Echo. "This is a terrible plan."

"Noted, Echo," said Cody. The leader of Squad Six grip on the controls of his light-jet tightened as the Occupation light-jets came speeding towards them.

"Well, this is it," said Cody. "Squad Six, activate light-walls and open fire!"

"Sir, yes, sir!"

Three glowing trails of white light shot out behind them as the space in front of them filled with laser fire and voxels. Cody spun his jet around as he fired at the oncoming light-jets, cutting his path in front of them and letting them slam into his light-wall. He drew his disc and threw it, decapitating a Black Guard that was lining up a shot on Jesse. Jesse pulled her light-jet up, and her laser blasts shredded more light-jets. Echo's light-jet was hit by laser fire and lost a wing. Echo jumped out and drew his disc, landing on an Occupation light-jet and killing the Black Guard piloting it. He took control of the light-jet, its circuit-lines flickering from red to white as he opened fire. Explosions ripped through the sky as cubes began falling over Argon City. However, Cody, Echo and Jesse were outnumbered. For every light-jet they destroyed, another would take its place. Others were breaking off to follow the recognizer. Cody turned his jet around and began to follow the fighters heading towards the recognizer. Laser fire burst through the air near his head, and a shot blasted his wing, causing his jet to start trailing smoke. A shard of the light-jet pierced his abdomen, and Cody gasped in pain as energy began leaking from the wound. Cody opened fire at the escaping light-jets, blasting them into voxels. He glanced over his shoulder, and saw Jesse chased by two light-jets. He watched as the two jets opened fire, and Jesse was derezzed as her jet exploded, spewing voxels into the sky. One of the jets dropped down and activated its light-wall as it cut in front of Echo as he started gaining altitude. Echo couldn't pull out of his climb in time and smashed into the light-wall. Cody turned his head forward and accelerated as another hit shook his light-jet. Cody drew his disc again, throwing it behind him at his pursuer. He hit the Black Guard, derezzing him, but the Guard's accurate laser fire blasted his wing off. Cody grunted as he struggled to keep his light-jet steady as he approached the group pursuing the recognizer. Some of the light-jets chasing the recognizer broke off and started to head towards him, and Cody smirked. He pulled his fighter up and moved to intercept one of the oncoming light-jets. The other pilot didn't react fast enough, and the two light-jets slammed into each other.

* * *

"_Cody!_" Kix yelled as her commanding officer rammed into one of the light-jet's he'd been chasing.

"No time to mourn them!" Hawkeye said. "They'll be on us in five microcycles! Get ready to fight!"

"We've made it out of Argon!" yelled the Renegade. "We can't head to our hideout with those light-jets still on our tail, though!"

"We need to finish them off or force them into retreat!" said Tron. "It's the only way out of this!"

"Sir! I've spotted light-jets coming out of the Outlands!" said Tup. "I see four of them!"

"From the Outlands?" the Traitor asked. "Why would Dyson have Guards come in from the Outlands?"

"He didn't!" said Tron. "I told Yori to come after me if I wasn't back by the end of the cycle. Looks like she brought friends with her!"

"Good!" said the Renegade. "We need all the help we can get!"

Red blasts of energy started to fly through the air as the approaching light-jets began to fire on them. Five of the six light-jets escorting the recognizer looped around and began to fire back at their attackers as the four other light-jets from the Outlands raced to assist them. Beck continued flying towards the newcomers, and pulled up next to the leading light-jet.

"Yori!" Beck asked. "Who did you bring with you?"

"Ada, Mara and Zed," Yori replied. "When Dyson announced the blockades were lifted, I asked for volunteers to help me get you and the others out of Argon."

"Mara and Ada I can understand, but Zed? Why did he volunteer?"

"Hey!" said Zed as he came up beside them. "Flying a light-jet isn't that hard!"

"You say that now, but you haven't flown in combat before," said Beck. "I think you'll be changing your tune pretty soon."

"You can argue later!" Ada yelled. "Here they come!"

The five light-jets entered the dogfight as explosions echoed through the skies. Laser fire burned through the air, and voxels began falling on the snowdrifts in the Argon Outlands. Beck spun his jet as he dodged and weaved through the Occupation light-jets, blasting away with his laser cannons and cutting through jets with his light-wall. He saw Mara being attacked by a Black Guard, and blasted the attacking jet to voxels.

"Thanks!" said Mara.

Beck glanced around the aerial battlefield, and saw a pair of light-jets swooping down to attack the recognizer.

"Mara, take care of those two light-jets down there, the ones attacking the recognizer."

"Got it!"

Mara dove, firing her laser cannons and shredding the two light-jets. More explosions rang out as light-jets and Black Guards were derezzed. Zed looped around and fired upon a light-jet, derezzing it, then killed his engines and spun around to face behind him. He reactivated his engines and shot forward, firing as he did so. Zed's laser blasts ripped through his pursuer's light jet, and Zed flew through the cloud of cubes as it exploded.

"They're retreating!" yelled Ada. Beck looked over his shoulder, and saw fourteen red light-jets circling around and heading back to Argon.

"Let them go," said Tron. "We need to get out of here before reinforcements show up."

* * *

Beck's light-jet came to a stop above the snow and began to collapse back into his baton. He began walking over to the recognizer, which was lowering its boarding hatch, allowing the programs on board step out. Paige, Tron and Yori soon joined him as the twelve programs gathered at the foot of the recognizer.

"You programs have a choice to make now," said Beck as he approached them. "We can take to nearby cities, such as Bismuth and Purgos, and help you start new lives there. Or... you can join us, help us make a difference, and save more lives."

There was silence for a few seconds. A female program with short hair and teal highlights stepped forward. "You rescued me once before," she said. "I was caught breaking curfew and you saved me from being sent to the Games. I watched you fight Tesler at Argon Square, and I saw that other program save your life. I spent a long time thinking about you and what you were doing, and I came to realise something. I wanted to help you, to join your cause, because I believed you could give me purpose, a reason to continue living, to continue fighting." She paused for a second, and took a deep breath. "I'm with you, Renegade."

"As am I," said Melissa. "You had plenty of reason to derez me. I was a virus, and an ISO, and yet you still tried to save me. That... That made me realise that you really are trying to save the Grid, not for selfish reasons, but because you truly believe in your purpose. I want to be a part of something like that."

The still air fell silent after Melissa gave her speech, and Beck glanced at the other programs. "Are there any others that want to join our cause?" Beck asked.

Again, a brief silence. This time though, it was broken by the sound of snow being crunched under a boot as a program stepped forward.

"I will," he said.

"So will I," said another, stepping forward as well.

"I'm with you, too," said a third as she stepped forward. The other seven programs also stepped forward and voiced their intentions to side with the Renegade.

Beck glanced at Paige, then at Tron, and finally at Yori. Seeing the three of them nod, Beck collapsed his helmet, and they did the same. Tron stepped forward as the other programs stared in shock.

"Welcome to the Uprising," Tron said.

* * *

Melissa is taking her actions as a virus very hard. Without the support of Paige or other programs, she may spiral out of control. Of course, considering her hands could not be restored to normal and the ISO symbol is branded into her forehead, she has several reminders of what she has done and what happened to her people.

One thing I forgot to mention about Melissa in the previous episode was the inspiration for her name. Abraxas' name came from a real computer virus, discovered in 1993. Melissa was also named after a real computer virus, first created in 1999. I still have plenty more ideas for Melissa going forward, especially with regards to who messed with her code to turn her into a virus.

We finally get to see what Pavel has been planning behind Dyson's back. This is the first scene where I've focused on writing Pavel, and he's up against someone who knows what to expect from a slimy, power-hungry program like Pavel. I hope I did him justice.

We also see the reappearance of an idea that only appeared in _Beck's Beginning_, specifically, that Tesler's forces were programs that could potentially become allies of the Renegade, as well as an explanation for why Tesler's soldiers seemed to vary in effectiveness from episode to episode. Because all the Guards, Sentries and Black Guards wear identical uniforms, you can't tell if you're fighting Tesler's elite or local programs only experienced in breaking up bar-fights. All the members of Squad Six are named after clone troopers from _Star Wars: The Clone Wars_, and there was always going to be at least one of them who was going to die in this episode. As it turned out, though, Squad Six was cut in half.

The female program with teal highlights is intended to be one of the programs from the episode _Grounded_. She's the program being chased by Black Guards during the opening of the episode, and the same program who stands in Argon Square, staring at the battleground where Tesler and the Renegade fought long after both parties had fled.


	7. Research and Development

I'm back, with a new chapter. Enjoy.

* * *

Accessing archived data…

Tron begins Zed and Mara's training…

…_Zed ran up to Tron and attacked again, but Tron easily blocked all his blows, and shoved Zed back. As Mara ran up to punch him from behind, Tron ducked down and to the side, grabbed Mara's arm, and flipped her over his shoulder. Mara slammed into Zed, and both programs hit the floor…_

…while Beck and Paige continue their recruitment drive…

…_Cody straightened to attention and saluted the Creator's Champion. "Sir, Argon Security Elite Guard Squad Six, reporting for duty, sir!" Behind him, the rest of his squad snapped out of their dazed states and stood at attention and saluted as well…_

…_A female program with short hair and teal highlights stepped forward…She paused for a second, and took a deep breath. "I'm with you, Renegade."_

_"As am I," said Melissa…_

…and Dyson and Pavel begin working in harmony…

_"Oh, just a small…___mistake ___in the loyalty code, easily fixed," said Dyson with a shrug…"It's a good thing I found it then; wouldn't want to undermine Clu's authority with your own personal army, would you?"_

_Not Clu's authority__, thought Pavel __as he narrowed his eyes__. __Yours__._

* * *

The female program sliced her disc through the lock on the shipping container. With the lock destroyed, she pulled the doors open, exposing the programs inside.

"You're free, programs," she said. "You won't be sent to the Games tonight."

The female program stepped aside, allowing the captives to escape. As the last program escaped, she collapsed her helmet, allowing her blue hair to spring back into shape.

"Rogue program spotted!" yelled a voice behind her. Mara turned around, and saw a pair of armoured Guards heading towards her. Mara raised her disc, and sliced through the staff of the first Guard. She ducked a swing from the second and kicked him in the chest. The first Guard charged at Mara again, but she grabbed his arm and tossed him over her shoulder.

"There she is!"

Mara saw three Black Guards, two females and one male, running towards her. Mara formed her helmet, and ran deeper into Argon City, away from the recognizer loading bay. She ducked into an alleyway and pushed herself against a wall.

"She went this way!" said one of the Black Guards, and the three soldiers entered the alleyway and ran past her. Once they were past her, she ran at them and tackled the Black Guardsman at the back. The two female Black Guards turned to face Mara, and she leaped up from the ground and punched the one of the right, knocking her down. The Guardswoman on the left drew her disc, and Mara drew her own disc as well. The Guardswoman attacked, and Mara blocked the blow. She then kneed the Guardswoman in the chest, and she collapsed. Mara surveyed her handiwork with grim satisfaction as she panted and reached behind her back to dock her disc. A noise behind her caused her to spin around with her disc at the ready. A female program with orange circuit lines and a winged helmet was kneeling in the alleyway, and Mara saw a wing-chute collapsing back into its pack on the female program's back. Mara threw her disc at the helmeted female, but her opponent blocked the attack with her disc. Mara ran forward and caught her disc as it ricochetted back towards her and lunged for the female program. The female program sidestepped and grabbed Mara's arm with her free hand, before bringing her other arm around to slice Mara's neck open with her disc.

* * *

**TRON: Uprising**

**Research and Development**

* * *

Paige stopped her attack, leaving her disc humming under Mara's chin.

"I win," Paige said as she collapsed her helmet and released her hold on Mara.

"Hey, I still managed to complete the objective," said Mara as her own helmet folded away. "I freed the programs being sent to the Games."

"Next time, try not to get derezzed doing so," said Tron, who was observing from outside the training room.

"I would've gotten away if you hadn't sent Paige in," Mara said as the environment began to turn into wireframes and recede, exposing the featureless white expanses of the training room.

"I wasn't expecting you to beat Paige," said Tron. "Eventually, you'll go up against an opponent that's more skilled than you are, and you need to realise that in those situations, your only option will be to escape. Living to fight another day is always a victory, even if you fail whatever mission you're on."

"I understand," said Mara.

"That said, your combat skills are improving, and your fight with Squad Six was impressive," said Tron. "You've come a long way since we started."

"Thanks," said Mara, glancing over at the three Black Guards behind her. Tup, Kix and Hawkeye had collapsed their helmets, and their circuit lines had switched back to the white they now used, rather than their old orange-red colours.

"I think that's enough combat training for one day," said Tron, opening the training room door. "You should get some rest."

Mara nodded, and walked out of the training room. She looked around briefly, as if she had been expecting to see someone.

"Where's Zed?" she asked.

"He's out practising on his light-cycle with Beck," Tron said. "He knows he's not as skilled in hand to hand combat as you are, but he's a natural on a light-cycle or a light-jet. He said it would be better to focus on his strengths, rather than his weaknesses."

* * *

The white-clad program pushed his light-cycle's controls forward, accelerating in front of Zed and cutting in front of him, blocking Zed's path with the light-wall. Zed collapsed his light-cycle and rolled to a stop, before getting up and switching the function of his baton. He took a running leap over the light-wall and activated his baton, this time forming a light-jet and rocketing into the sky. Zed glanced behind him, and saw Beck had also switched to his light-jet, and was now chasing after him. Zed activated his light-wall, but Beck rolled his jet out of the way and accelerated towards him. Zed cut his engines, and as he dropped, guided his plane into Beck's path before reactivating the engines and flying forwards. He glanced over his shoulder, but saw no sign of Beck. A shadow fell over him, and he looked up. A light-jet was flying above his head and slowly getting closer, forcing him down to the ground. Zed eventually came to a stop and deactivated his light-jet, and Beck landed a short distance away. Zed rubbed his shoulder where he had first hit the ground after shutting off his light-jet and groaned.

"Not your best landing, huh?" Beck asked as he collapsed his helmet and walked up to Zed.

"Yeah," said Zed. "Then again, landings never were my strong point."

"That vehicle switching trick was pretty clever, though," said Beck. "I wasn't expecting that."

"You still beat me, though," said Zed.

"You didn't make it easy for me," said Beck. "And if you could modify a light-jet in the same way you modified your light-cycle, you could get an advantage over others."

"I still doubt I could beat you," said Zed.

"Yeah, well, Tron was a really tough teacher," said Beck. "I haven't even begun to show you some of the things he did during our first training session."

"Oh, yeah?" asked Zed. "Like what?"

"See that ravine over there?" Beck said, pointing to his right. Zed glanced over and nodded. "Tron tried to make me jump that on a light-cycle."

"That's impossible," said Zed. "You _might_ make that with an Encom 786, or even one of my custom bikes, but with a standard model?" Zed shook his head. "You'd never make it."

Beck just smirked and rezzed his helmet. "Watch me," he said as he ran forward and activated his light-cycle. Beck accelerated at full speed towards the ravine, and he brought his cycle up to a rock outcropping next to the ravine. He hit the curved rock and launched into the air above the ravine, and Zed's jaw dropped as he saw Beck's cycle spin through the air before landing on its wheels on the other side. Beck stopped the light-cycle and turned to face Zed. The Renegade collapsed his helmet, his smirk visible even from this far away. Zed decided that if Beck could make that jump, then so could he. Rather than use a standard light-cycle, though, he activated his custom light-cycle, the one he had originally crafted for the Argon Race. Zed shot forwards, activating the speed boost, which allowed him to go thirty percent faster than a standard light-cycle. Rather than use the curved rock trick Beck had used, he simply raced towards the ravine and shot over the edge, his momentum carrying him over to the other side. Zed pulled up alongside Beck and collapsed his helmet.

"Told you my custom bike could make it," he said, earning an eye-roll from Beck.

"Come on," said Beck. "We should get back to the hideout."

"Hey, uh, before we do," said Zed, "Can we practice some hand to hand stuff?"

"I don't see why we can't do that back at the hideout," said Beck.

"The thing is, I'm really not that good at fighting," said Zed. "And practising with Tron, well…"

"Makes you feel even worse, huh?" said Beck.

Zed nodded. "Exactly."

"Alright, fine, I'll practice with you," said Beck, shutting off his light-cycle and drawing his disc.

Zed collapsed his own light-cycle, but rather than draw his disc, he activated the baton's staff function, and charged at Beck. Beck blocked the first few attacks, before kicking at Zed. Zed stepped back, and swung at Beck again. Beck leaned to the side, and brought his disc up, cleaving through the staff. Zed then attacked with one of the broken halves, jamming the still sparking end into Beck's chest, catching Beck by surprise. As the sparking end of the broken staff made contact, Beck yelped in pain and staggered backwards, tripping and falling on his back.

"Beck!" said Zed as he dropped the two broken halves of the staff and ran over to his friend. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah," said Beck as he sat up. "That really hurt, though." Beck and Zed then glanced over at the discarded halves of the staff, and the damaged ends that were still sparking. An idea began to form in Zed's head, and he turned back to Beck.

"Think we could modify a staff to give shocks like that?" said Zed.

"Shouldn't be too hard, right?" said Beck.

"Right," said Zed. He then glanced back at the broken staff, and his face soured. "You owe me a ride back… and a new bike."

Beck just laughed as he pulled out a pair of batons and tossed one to Zed, before using the other one to rez his light-jet and fly back.

"Hey, wait!"

* * *

The female program stood at the window, gazing out at the Argon City skyline in the distance. Her reflection stared back at her, the ISO symbol in her forehead reflected brightly in the glass.

"You alright?"

Melissa glanced over her shoulder, and saw another female program, one with shoulder-length hair, was approaching her.

"Why do you ask?" said Melissa.

"Paige told me about… about what happened in Argon," said the other program. "About how you tried to end your own life."

Melissa turned back to face the window and sighed. "I'm… I'm still struggling with the guilt," she said. "I mean, I've derezzed programs before—I had to, during the ISO Wars—, but this…" Melissa shook her head and raised her clawed hands. "I'll never be able to hide what I've done, not with hands that look like… _this_."

"None of the others have hands like that," said the other program. "Why?"

"Probably because they had simpler code," said Melissa. "Paige said she still wasn't comfortable messing around with ISO code, especially because she didn't know what my base code looked like in the first place."

The other program gasped. "You… you really are an ISO?"

Melissa nodded, and slid down her sleeve, revealing the hexagon symbol with the T shape next to it.

"Oh, thank Flynn," said the other program as a grin appeared on her face. "You have no idea how glad I am to know that I'm not the last of our kind."

"Our kind…?" Melissa asked. "You mean… you're an ISO too?"

"Yes," said the other program, folding her sleeve down to show off the same symbol on her arm. "My name is Ada, by the way."

"I'm Melissa." She held out her clawed hand, and Ada shook it without showing any fear.

"I'm sorry if this is a touchy subject, but… how did you become a virus?" Ada asked. "There's no way you could have been infected from outside— The Grid is a closed system, after all. The only way you could become a virus is if—"

"Another program modified my code," finished Melissa. "Paige said something about that while she was curing a program back in Argon. The infected Basics had corrupted code added, whereas my code was corrupted by rearranging my base code."

"Do you know who did it to you?" asked Ada.

Melissa shook her head. "I remember arriving here in Argon, looking for the Renegade," she said. "I know someone attacked me, but I don't think I saw them clearly. After that, my next memory is waking up after I'd been corrupted."

"Do you think it was an agent of Clu?" asked Ada. "It wouldn't be the first time he's corrupted an ISO into a virus."

"You mean… Abraxas used to be an ISO?"

Ada nodded. "Another ISO I met, Quorra, she saw Clu ordering Abraxas to infect Radia, and Radia recognised Abraxas as Jalen, the first ISO to become the Champion of the Games."

Melissa nodded. "I always knew Abraxas was Clu's fault, but to think Abraxas used to be an ISO… and not just any ISO, but Jalen…" Melissa shook her head. "Anyway, to answer your question, I have no idea who corrupted me, but I don't think it was one of Clu's agents."

"If it wasn't one of Clu's programs, then who did it?" asked Ada.

"I don't know!" snapped Melissa. "I don't know…" she repeated softly.

"I'm sorry," said Ada, tentatively resting a hand on Melissa's shoulder. "I didn't mean to upset you."

"I know," said Melissa. "It's just… I've asked that question myself so many times… and I still haven't come up with an answer."

Ada removed her hand from Melissa's shoulder, and was silent for some time before she spoke again. "So… are you a first or second generation ISO?" she asked.

Melissa smiled slightly. "Second gen. I spent my alpha and beta cycles in the Bostrum Colony. You?"

"I'm also second gen," said Ada. "But I spent most of my runtime in Arjia."

"You said you met Quorra?" Melissa asked. "She was the first, wasn't she? The first second gen ISO, I mean."

"She was," said Ada. "The first ISO to be created by two other ISOs, rather than be formed in the Sea of Simulation like the first gen ISOs."

Melissa sighed. "And now the Sea of Simulation is poisoned and lifeless," she said. "And without a male ISO, neither of us could create a third gen ISO."

"Hey, as long as we're alive, there's still hope," said Ada. "Who knows, there might even be a few male ISOs hidden in some of the other cities on the Grid."

"Wouldn't that be something," said Melissa.

* * *

"What are you doing with Tesler's disc?" Paige asked as she entered the workshop.

"I'm trying to figure out how his weapons work," said Mara, not looking up as Paige came up to her. Mara waved her hand across the holographic display above the disc, scrolling through the code and datafiles. "If I can figure out how to make his weapons, I could create copies for other members of the Uprising."

"Any progress yet?" Paige asked.

"Not really," said Mara. "The only thing I've learned so far is that, in order to install the weapons on a program, I'd have to amputate their arm, and then attach a prosthetic that contained the weapon, instead of recompiling the arm normally."

Paige nodded. "I don't know how to build a prosthetic arm, but I could help you attach it to a program," she said. "I'd even be willing to test the process on myself."

Mara paused, and glanced at Paige. "Why would you volunteer for it?"

"I was trained by Tesler," said Paige. "If anyone could fight like him, it would be me."

"I guess that makes sense," said Mara, turning back to the disc in her hand. "Now, if I could just find a copy of the schematics on here, we'd be in business."

"How did you learn that amputation was necessary?" Paige asked.

"I found a memory file on here," said Mara. "The Renegade, I mean, Beck, cut through Tesler's arms during their first fight."

"I remember," said Paige. "I was the one who found him."

"Right," said Mara. "Anyway, in the memory file, Pavel detached the two ruined prosthetics, then attached a new pair to Tesler's arms."

"So those weapons were Pavel's creation," said Paige.

"That's my guess," said Mara. "I'm looking through the other information stored on Tesler's disc, but I've only found his plans for the Renegade or his permissions for the Occupation networks, none of which are very useful at the moment."

"Tron did mention that Dyson had revoked Tesler's permissions," Paige said. "And Dyson would rather create his own plans for drawing us out, rather than rely on Tesler's strategies."

"Especially since Beck's started to pick up more allies, now," said Mara. The blue-haired mechanic paused briefly. "Do you think he knows about Tup, Kix and Hawkeye?"

"He might," said Paige. "I wouldn't count on their permissions being of any use either."

"No, but if we looked at all five of your permission sets, we could forge our own permissions for the Occupation network," said Mara. "If we could do that, then we could listen into everything Dyson says."

Paige nodded. "I'll speak to Tron and Yori about trying that. Maybe we'll be able to try it."

"It probably won't work, but we might find enough similarities to… _aha!_"

"Did you find something?" asked Paige, looking over Mara's shoulder at the holographic display above Tesler's identity disc.

"I finally found the schematics to Tesler's weaponry!" said Mara. The mechanic studied the plans, tapping various areas of code and expanding them to get a better look. "I think I could build a set, but I'll definitely need your help to attach them to someone."

Paige nodded, and held out her arm. "Build the first set to match my arms," she said. "I'll test the procedure on myself."

"Are you sure?" Mara asked.

"If it doesn't work, I'll be able to recompile my arm easily," said Paige.

"If you say so," said Mara, starting to take measurements of Paige's arm. "By the way, what brought you down here in the first place?"

"Oh, Tron wants to continue your combat training," Paige said.

Mara nodded. "Just give me a few micros to copy these schematics onto my disc."

* * *

Dyson clasped his hands behind his back as the harsh winds of the Outlands blew snow around his feet. He walked up to the abandoned recognizer and examined the boarding hatch.

"Did you find any sign of the Renegade or his allies?" Dyson asked.

"Not yet, but one of our search parties has yet to return," said a Sentry program. "They were examining light-jet wreckage from the skirmish above Argon."

Dyson resisted the urge to roll his eyes. The loss of almost three full light-jet squadrons did not count as a skirmish, especially when the dogfight had still been visible from Argon City. To add insult to injury, the Renegade's forces had only taken three casualties, in stark contrast to the twenty-two Black Guards that had been derezzed.

"Sir, I've just received a report from the last search party," said a second Sentry. "They have successfully recovered a program from one of the destroyed light-jets."

"This program…was it one of ours?" Dyson asked.

"Negative, sir," said the second Sentry. "This was one of the defective Black Guards. The program has been taken prisoner, and is receiving medical attention as we speak."

Dyson nodded. "Have the prisoner shipped to the repurposing facility. I'll interrogate him there when we return." Dyson then turned to one of the Black Guards that had accompanied him. "This recognizer has been sealed shut. Plant a breaching charge."

The Black Guard nodded, and retrieved a grenade from her waist. She planted the grenade on the recognizer's boarding hatch and activated the charge.

"Clear!" she yelled, and Dyson pressed himself to one side of the hatch and rezzed his helmet. The breaching charge detonated, but the small explosion was followed by a second, much more powerful explosion. Dyson was thrown off his feet, and landed face-first in the snow, cracking his face-plate. The Black Guard that had planted the charge was less fortunate, as the force of the explosion derezzed her. One of the two Sentries was also derezzed, as a piece of debris sliced through his chest. Dyson got to his feet and collapsed his damaged helmet.

"What happened?" he asked.

"It appears a bomb was planted on the inside of the recognizer's boarding hatch," said the surviving Sentry. "When the breach charge detonated, it set off the hidden bomb."

"I see," said Dyson. "How bad is the damage?"

"Extensive, sir," said the Sentry. "The central structure has been completely split in two, and the bridge seems to have taken the brunt of the damage."

Dyson grimaced. "I should've expected a trap from Tron," he muttered. "Finding this recognizer was too easy."

"Sir?" asked the Sentry in confusion. "What did you just say? It was a trap from…_Tron?_"

Dyson's eyes widened as he realised his mistake. He then drew his disc and threw it at the Sentry's throat, derezzing him instantly.

"Nothing you need to know about," said Dyson as he caught the disc and docked it. He then turned and began walking over the light-copter that had brought him here. Of course, he had also brought two Sentries and a Black Guard with him…but the record would show that all three of them had been derezzed in the explosion of the recognizer, which had been a trap left by the Renegade.

* * *

As Tup entered the main chamber of Tron's base, he realised that he was the last program to enter. Kix and Hawkeye had already arrived, as had Paige and another program, a program from the Old System named Yori.

"What's this about, Commander?" Tup asked as he took his place with Kix and Hawkeye.

Paige looked at Tup in confusion. "I'm no longer with the Occupation," she said. "I don't hold a military rank any more."

"You're one of the Uprising's field leaders," said Hawkeye. "You were trained as a military officer, and we're programs under your command. Why shouldn't we refer to you by your rank?"

"Because we're not an army," said Paige. "Especially not an army like Clu's. I expect all of you to think for yourselves, not just blindly follow orders like mindless drones."

"Understood, sir," said Kix. The female Elite Guard paused for a second before she spoke again. "You still haven't told us what this is about, though."

"We need to see your discs," said Yori. "Specifically, your permissions for the Occupation networks."

Tup reached behind his back and undocked his disc. He held it out in front of him as the holographic display hummed to life above the disc. He scrolled through the datafiles until he reached his permissions and attempted to connect with the network.

"Don't try connecting to the network," said Yori. "If you connect, Dyson could trace the signal back to this base."

"He's probably also removed your permissions from the network" said Paige. "He disabled Tesler's permissions before the Renegade could steal his disc, and shut my permissions down as soon as I went missing."

"But with five sets of permissions, I can cross-reference the codekeys and try to forge a new set of permissions," said Yori. "Dyson can't shut down permissions that don't exist in his database."

"But General Tesler and Commander Paige had higher levels of access than we do," said Hawkeye. "Wouldn't that mean their permissions have different coding?"

"Not necessarily," said Yori. "If Clu's networks are structured anything like the Master Control Program's networks on the Old System, then the basic code of all permissions is identical. The only difference in higher ranks is more complex system identification files, and the system ID files are created using a pattern generator. If I can find the base code and figure out the pattern, I could generate new ID files to use to connect with the Occupation network."

"I see," said Hawkeye. "Would those new ID files stand up to the network security, though?"

"The network would accept the new file, but using the same system ID multiple times would increase the risk of detection," said Yori. "And if another program detected an unauthorised access, they could take steps to stop me from getting in."

"Could you access the network remotely and mask your signal?" Kix asked.

"I'd have to hitch a ride on an incoming datastream, but it's possible," said Yori. "It's much easier if I have access to an Occupation dataport, though."

"You'd have to enter a building controlled by the Occupation to gain access to a dataport," said Tup. "You'd have to sneak into the Coliseum, the barracks…or onto the flagship."

"We'll worry about that if I can successfully forge new permissions," said Yori, drawing her disc. "I'll need you to copy your permissions onto my disc. Once I have your three sets, I'll be ready to start."

* * *

Cody's head hurt. Well, so did the rest of his body, but the pain in his head was what he took notice of first when he returned to consciousness. As he woke up, he began to notice a few things. The first thing he noticed was that he was a rather large, open space. The second thing he noticed was the large clear vertical cylinder connected to a console on the ground a short distance away. The third thing he noticed was that his arms were handcuffed behind his back. The fourth thing he noticed was that his identity disc was not docked on his back. This realisation helped to clear the fog in his head, and he opened his eyes and glanced up.

"Ah, you're awake now," said Dyson, holding an identity disc in his hand. "I've seen some very interesting things on your disc, Cody. Can I call you Cody?"

"Doesn't matter what you call me," Cody muttered. "You're just gonna turn me into a mindless drone, just like every other program from the Argon Security Force."

"Well, of course I am," said Dyson. "Repurposing is a marvellous way to increase productivity and efficiency, with the added bonus of complete loyalty to our leader. What's not to like?"

"Losing my identity," said Cody. "Becoming a slave to a corrupt system administrator." Cody paused briefly. "Not much difference between being repurposed and being infected by a virus, is there?"

"What did you just say?" Dyson snarled, his grip on Cody's disc tightening.

"Neither program would have any control over their actions," said Cody, glaring at Dyson. "They'd be at the whim of whoever added the new code to their system, subjugating the programs that hadn't been taken—_augh!_"

Cody was interrupted when Dyson activated Cody's disc and sliced it down the right side of Cody's face, gouging out Cody's right eye. Dyson then grabbed the top of Cody's head, restraining him as he held the active disc under his throat.

"How dare you compare a virus to Clu's perfection!" Dyson yelled as Cody tried to pull away from the disc. "Repurposing gives a program a higher purpose, a way to serve their function and their system administrator! All viruses want to do is take control over us and steal everything we've achieved!"

"Isn't that exactly what Clu is doing?" Cody whispered as energy dripped from the wound in his face. "Taking control over all the programs on the Grid and stealing their achievements for his own?"

Dyson snarled, and raked the disc across Cody's chest, opening a huge gash that glowed with Cody's internal energy. Cody screamed in pain as the disc cut his flesh, but his scream was cut short as Clu slammed his head into the floor.

"Clu is cleansing the Grid of imperfections and flushing out the false diety that enslaved us for all those cycles," said Dyson. "And perfection can only be achieved if programs follow the directives they were given."

"You…you truly believe that," Cody said between gasps as he tried to get up onto his knees. "Just how glitched up are you?"

Dyson roughly jammed Cody's disc onto his back and hauled him to his feet. "I'm not the one who's glitched," Dyson said. "And soon, neither will you."

Dyson shoved Cody in the back, and the Elite Guardsman staggered forward towards the repurposing machine. "You could've just told me to walk," said Cody, narrowing his remaining eye. "I guess you're just waiting until you'll be sure I can follow your commands."

"Silence, Six-One!" snapped Dyson, using the last two digits of Cody's Elite Guard identity number.

"Sir, yes, sir," said Cody, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "Right away, sir. I will comply with your orders immediately, Supreme Commander."

Dyson growled, and Cody heard the snapping sound of a disc being activated. The Elite Guardsman then began to laugh.

"You know, this would be much simpler if you didn't have that baton up your rear," said Cody cheerfully. "Although I did always wonder where you stored it."

Dyson lashed out with his disc, and Cody gasped in pain as the disc slashed across the side of his head. Cody looked down, and watched as his right ear fell to the ground and shattered into voxels.

"That was my favourite ear," said Cody. "Well, at least you're keeping my good side intact."

"Oh, for Flynn's sake, do you ever shut up?!"

"Hey, I'm enjoying my last few micros as a free program, don't judge me," said Cody, grinning. "And don't take the Creator's name in vain." Cody began giggling again as Dyson shoved him towards the repurposing machine. "What would the User say if he heard you talking like that?"

"Flynn isn't that impressive," said Dyson as he opened the repurposing chamber and shoved Cody in. "Believe me, I've met him."

Cody's eyes widened, and he spun around to face Dyson. "You met the User?!"

Dyson smirked as the chamber closed on Cody. "I did," said Dyson. "And I watched as Clu made him run like a coward and trapped him on the Grid forever. But you don't need to worry about Flynn ever again." Dyson jabbed one of the buttons on the console, and a siren clanged three times.

"Initiating cleansing," said the female voice that was the same across the Grid.

Cody's bravado was briefly replaced by fear, then he felt himself reaching above his head as his disc detached itself from his back.

"Preparing for code extraction."

Cody tried to grit his teeth, but he couldn't move. His vision darkened as his eyes rolled up, but he could still hear, still think.

"Data removal commencing."

_No no no no no, this isn't happening. I'm not gonna forget you, any of you, I can't, I won't let myself. I've got to remember…who? Who's important…Rex, he's important…he was my friend, we fought together, he…who was he? No! It's starting, I can't let Dyson win, I gotta remember my team…my team…Jesse, she's gone, so's Echo…didn't Echo have a…a what? I…can't remember…And the other three…Kix? Hawkeye…?T…Tip? No, TUP! His name is Tup! We were…we are Squad Six, even if two of us are…are what? I don't…know…the word is…gone…Who…Who were…those…programs…what's…a…program…?…_

_Who…am…I…?…_

"Cleansing complete. Countdown to repurposing in five…four…three…two…one…Repurposing commencing."

_Who…am…I…?…_

_My name…is not important. I serve…Clu…through him…I serve the Grid…Achieve perfection…by following orders…Fulfil my directive…My directive…to serve Clu…Follow orders…Good soldiers follow orders…My role…soldier in Clu's army…My programming…Security…Secure the Grid for Clu…Cleanse the Grid of imperfection…_

"Repurposing complete."

The repurposing chamber opened, and the Black Guardsman stepped out.

"Identity yourself, program," said Supreme Commander Dyson.

"Black Guard 212-2224-61, reporting for duty, Supreme Commander."

"Good," said Supreme Commander Dyson with a smirk as he clasped his hands behind his back. "Report to the flagship for medical attention. Once you are cleared for active duty, report to the Coliseum for your Games combat assignment."

"As you wish, sir," said 212-2224-61, saluting his superior officer.

* * *

Mara attached a multi-tool to the prosthetic arm on her workbench, and a window of code appeared in the air above the multi-tool. She moved a few segments of code, and rewrote another patch of code. A quick glance at the hologram above her disc confirmed that the code matched what was in the schematics, so she closed the window and removed the multi-tool from the prosthetic. Mara then grabbed her welding tool and started drawing it along the prosthetic, sealing the inner workings. The sound of the door opening behind her caused her to look over her shoulder at the program entering.

"Oh, hey, Zed," she said, before she turned back to her work.

"Mara? What are you doing down here?" Zed asked as he walked up to her and poked his head over her shoulder.

"Working on these for Paige," she said, pointing at the two prosthetic arms on her workbench.

"Aren't those the weapons Tesler used?"

Mara nodded. "I thought that if I learned how to make more, we could make use of them, gain an advantage over the Occupation."

"Do you need a hand?" Zed asked.

"No, no, I've got it," Mara said with a smile. "Thanks for the offer, though. What brings you down here, anyway?"

"Hm? Oh, Beck and I had an idea for a new weapon for our batons," he said, holding up a broken staff as he walked over to another workbench. "We found out that cutting a staff causes the ends to spark, and they can be used to stun programs. I want to try and modify a baton's staff subroutine to do that on purpose."

Zed put the two halves of the staff on his workbench, and then pulled out another baton and placed it on the bench. He then began rummaging through the tools on the bench until he found his multi-tool, and attached it to the baton. A code window shimmered into existence in the air above the multi-tool, and Zed scrolled through the code until he reached the code segment that governed the staff subroutine.

"Okay, let's see," muttered Zed as he enlarged the code segment. "Dimensions…probably want something that can be held in one hand…also has to split in two so you've got one in each hand…"

Zed highlighted a string of code, and typed in a replacement string. He then selected a second string and rewrote that as well. Zed then removed the multi-tool and picked up the baton. He selected the staff subroutine and pulled the baton apart. The baton split in two, and the two halves elongated slightly, forming two short staffs. Zed nodded in satisfaction and attached the two short staffs together again, and the halves shrank and connected to form a baton again.

"Now, the hard part," said Zed, attaching the multi-tool to one of the halves of the broken staff and began searching through the code for the damaged segments. Once he found what he was looking for, he copied the pattern onto the multi-tool and then attached the multi-tool to the inert baton on his workbench. Zed selected the code for the modified staff subroutine and applied the pattern of the damaged code. He then began to repair and modify the code to apply the sparking effect without breaking the baton.

"Need some help?" Mara asked.

"Nope, I think I got it," said Zed as he closed the code window and removed the multi-tool from the baton. He picked the baton apart and activated the modified subroutine. As before, the baton split in two, and the halves grew in length slightly. This time, though, the ends of the baton that had been connected to each other were now sparking with electricity.

"See?" said Zed, holding up one of the short staffs. "I got it in one try."

As Zed said that, though, the sparking ends of the staffs flickered and died.

"You were saying?" asked Mara, raising an eyebrow.

Zed looked at the two halves of the baton. "I was sure that would work," he said. He connected the two halves of the baton and reattached the multi-tool to access the code. "Mara, do you think this code looks right?"

Mara walked up to Zed's workbench and examined the code for herself. "Everything looks normal, except for the modified sections, of course," she said. "And I don't see any bugs or glitches in the new code, either. That weapon should work."

Zed frowned, and detached the multi-tool. He reactivated the new weapon, and looked at the two halves. The inner ends of the staffs stayed dark. Zed then banged the two outer ends on the workbench, and the electrified ends of the staffs flared to life.

"Ha-_ha_!" said Zed. The mechanic then connected the two sparking ends, and the new weapon shut off. He then activated the new weapon again, and this time the inner ends sparked to life as soon as Zed pulled the baton apart, and this time the ends stayed active. Zed then slowly pressed one of the sparking ends to the back of his hand. Once the electrified end made contact, Zed yelped and dropped the two halves of the staff onto the ground, and Mara giggled.

"Why would you do that to yourself?" she asked between giggles.

"Hey, I had to make sure it worked," said Zed. "Didn't realise it would hurt that much, though."

Mara giggled again, then cleared her throat. "Anyway, I'm done building these prosthetics, too. Now I have to take them up to Paige so she can attach them."

"Hey, can you take this up to Beck as well?" Zed asked, shutting down the new weapon and passing her the baton. "I need to fix my own baton; should only take a couple of micros."

"Sure," said Mara, taking the baton from Zed's hand and attaching it to her leg. She then picked up the two prosthetics and walked out of the room as Zed aligned the two ends of his broken staff and picked up a welding tool to make his repairs.

* * *

Mara found Paige fiddling with the controls for the healing chamber, and Mara noticed that the former medic was wearing her standard black grid-suit with orange and red circuit-lines, rather than Yori's suit.

"I've finished the weapons," said Mara, holding up one of the prosthetics.

Paige nodded, and pulled out her disc, holding it in front of her with a full-body hologram of Paige hovering above the disc.

"Cut off my left arm first," said Paige, holding out the appropriate arm. "It's not my dominant hand, so I won't have too much trouble setting up the regeneration protocols and programming the healing chamber."

Mara pulled out her own disc, and activated the cutting edge.

"This is probably going to hurt," said Mara. "A lot."

"I am aware of that," said Paige. "I did lose one of my legs on my first trip here."

Mara gulped, and held the disc above Paige's outstretched arm. She swung the disc down fast, and sliced through Paige's upper arm. The cut was straight and clean, and the severed arm fell to the floor and shattered into voxels.

"Now, take the prosthetic and hold it against the stump," said Paige through gritted teeth.

Mara nodded, and took the left-hand prosthetic and pressed it against the stump of Paige's upper arm.

"Can you hold my disc for me?" Paige asked. "I can't hold my disc and modify my code at the same time."

"Yeah, good point," said Mara as she docked her own disc and took Paige's. Paige began to fiddle with the code, drawing lines from the stump of her severed arm, which was highlighted in red.

"Good, looks like my code is accepting the prosthetic," said Paige as the highlighted arm changed to blue. Paige then took her disc and returned it to its dock on her back. Paige's eyes flashed as the disc re-synchronised, and the suit on her arm rippled as the prosthetic connected to her stump.

"Did…did it work?" Mara asked, letting go of the prosthetic.

Paige held her hand out, and slowly touched her left thumb to each of her fingers on her left hand, and opened and closed her left hand a few times. She then clenched her left hand into a fist, and the prosthetic arm lit up, and a series of glowing energy rings appeared around her forearm.

"It works," said Paige, as she powered down the weapon. She pulled out her disc and then re-selected the hologram from earlier. "Now let's do the other one."

Mara nodded, and drew her disc. Paige held out her right arm, and Mara sliced it off, then held the prosthetic arm to the stump as Paige connected the prosthetic to her code. Paige re-docked her disc again, and the arm of her suit rippled as the prosthetic right arm attached itself. She then clenched both fists, and both her arms powered up.

"Good, they both work," said Paige, relaxing her fists and powering down the weapons. "Nice work."

"Thanks," said Mara. "Are you going to test those out?"

Paige nodded. "Do you want to set the training room up for me?"

"Beck's already down there with Tron," said Mara. "He's testing out a new weapon he and Zed designed. I doubt Beck will mind it if you join his training session."

Paige smirked. "It's been a while since Beck and I had a good fight," she said. "Should be fun."

"I'll catch up once I've cleaned this up," said Mara, pointing at the pile of voxels that was what remained of Paige's arms.

* * *

Beck jammed the sparking ends of his new shock rods into the simulated Black Guard in front of him, and the Black Guard tried to speak as electric shocks wracked his body.

"S-send-ding err-error m-mess-sa-sage," the Black Guard stammered, before Beck removed the sparking ends and smacked the two blunt ends into the Black Guard's helmet. The simulated soldier collapsed, still twitching from the residual electricity.

"That's a fancy new weapon you've got," said Paige as she entered the training room, her grid-suit rippling as she switched from her standard outfit to Yori's white suit. "But you aren't the only one here who's updated your arsenal."

Another Black Guard simulation loaded, and Beck's eyes widened in surprise as he saw Paige's arms glow white, and she punched the Black Guard with her glowing fist, sending the Black Guard simulation flying through the air as he derezzed.

"How did you get _those_?" Beck asked.

"Your friend Mara found the schematics on Tesler's disc," said Paige as she powered down the weapons, revealing the glowing light-blue lines that now traced their way down her arms. "She built the prosthetics and helped me attach them. And what about your new weapon?"

"You mean these?" said Beck, holding up the shock rods. "It's a modified staff that splits in two, and the ends are designed to shock a program."

"Interesting," said Paige as she powered up her arms and rezzed her helmet. "But I'm sure you'd like to test them out against a real opponent at some point, wouldn't you?"

Beck twirled the shock rods as he slipped into a combat stance and rezzed his own helmet. "No time like the present," he said. "Try not to derez me."

"No promises," said Paige. She then ran forward and swung her fist at Beck. Beck ducked, and jabbed one of his shock rods into Paige's side. She yelped in pain, then backhanded him in the face. Beck was knocked backwards and skidded to a halt, and Paige thrust her right arm towards Beck. There was a click as the blue circuit-lines on her arms grew brighter, and six panels extended out from her arms as Paige's hand shot forward towards Beck. Beck jumped to one side, and Paige swung her extended arm towards him. He dropped to the floor and connected his two shock rods together, returning them into a single baton as Paige's extended arm whipped over his head. Holding the baton in his left hand, he drew his disc with his right and threw it at Paige. Paige's right hand retracted, and she batted the disc away with her arm, and the disc ricochetted off the ceiling and returned to Beck's hand. Paige then leaped into the air and reached out with her left arm. Her left hand shot out and embedded itself in the ground between Beck's feet. Paige then began retracting her left arm, pulling herself towards Beck at an alarming speed. Paige brought her right fist forwards as she shot towards Beck, and Beck jumped backwards and docked his disc as Paige landed, her right fist slamming into the ground hard enough to leave a small crater. Beck jumped and pushed off Paige's arms, pulling his baton apart to activate the shock rods. Beck flipped through the air and landed on Paige's back. He then rammed the two shock rods into the base of her neck. Paige growled in pain, then reached up and grabbed Beck's head between her hands and hauled him off her back and threw him away from her. Beck rolled to his feet and held his shock rods by his side.

"I didn't think you'd be so good with those," said Beck, gesturing at her prosthetic arms with his shock rods.

"They're not the only things I'm good with," said Paige. She pointed her arms above Beck's head and extended them above him, then swung her arms down, causing her extended arms to slam into the ground. Beck leaped to the side and charged at Paige as she retracted her arms. Beck thrust at her with his shock rods, but Paige grabbed the sparking ends of the shock rods as he jabbed at her. Paige held onto the shock rods and pushed Beck's arms apart, and Beck jumped up and kicked her in the face as he let go of the shock rods, using his kick to push away from Paige.

Paige shook her head, and threw the two shock rods away as Beck landed and drew his disc.

"Impressive," said Paige. "But let's see how you do without your little toys."

Beck attacked with his disc, and Paige blocked it with her left arm. She deactivated the weapon in her right arm and reached behind her back, drawing her own disc. She pushed Beck's attack aside, and swung her disc at him. Beck leaned back, and blocked her retaliatory disc strike with his own as he jabbed her in the armpit.

"I don't need fancy weapons to win this fight," said Beck.

"Is that a challenge?" Paige asked. Paige powered down the weapon in her left arm and brought her leg up and kicked Beck in the chin, cracking his face-plate. Beck struck back with his disc, slicing a gash in Paige's face-plate. Both programs took a step back as they collapsed their helmets, and paused briefly, panting for breath.

"This brings back memories, doesn't it?" said Paige as she lunged forward. Beck thrust his disc hand at her, but she grabbed his attacking arm with her free hand and swung at him with her disc. Beck used his free hand to grab her arm, and the two programs stood face-to-face as they tried to break free of the others grip.

"Good memories, or bad?" Beck asked, leaning in towards Paige.

"Knowing who was behind that mask? Definitely good," said Paige, as she started leaning in as well.

"Oh, for Flynn's sake, just kiss already!" yelled Zed from outside the training room.

"That's a bit rich, coming from you, Zed," said Beck, and Beck heard several voices laughing over the intercom.

"You two have attracted quite the audience, so I suggest you keep the flirting for when you're not beating each other up," said Tron's voice.

"Are you kidding?" Paige asked. "I do my best flirting when I'm beating Beck up."

"I'd beg to differ," said Beck.

"Oh, you'll be begging in a few micros, that's for sure," said Paige.

"That's enough, you two," said Tron sternly. "You've tested your new weapons out, and they work. Now, if all you're going to do is flirt, there are other programs who need to use the training room."

"Yes, sir," said Beck and Paige in unison, rolling their eyes and letting each other go. Beck walked over to where one of his shock rods had landed when Paige tossed them aside. Paige picked up the other shock rod and tossed it to Beck. Beck caught it and touched the two energised ends together, shutting the rods down and returning them to their original state as a single baton. The training room door slid open, and Beck and Paige walked out, noticing that Tron hadn't been joking when he said they'd attracted an audience.

"You weren't kidding," said Beck, turning to Tron. "How many programs have we got in here?"

"Everyone," said Tron with a slight smirk. "I suspect some of them are making bets about who was going to kiss whom first."

"Is that so?" said Beck as he started turning towards Paige. As he did, Paige grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and pulled him towards her and planted her lips on his. Beck's eyes widened as she grabbed him and pulled, but he quickly relaxed into the kiss as the other members of the Uprising cheered them on.

* * *

Mara and Zed have been training with Tron since _The Resistance: Part II_, but so far, most of their training has been off-screen. They also haven't performed any missions for the Uprising yet. This doesn't include their participation in the battle at the end of _Purpose_, as that was a team mission led by Yori, rather than Zed and Mara operating in the field together without assistance from other members of the Uprising.

Tesler's disc has also been in the Uprising's possession since the end of _The Resistance: Part II_, but has seen little use so far, something I decided to change up. It is highly likely that, since Yori and Tron obviously knew each other before the events of the 1982 film, Yori was also working against the MCP as part of a resistance movement, and it is likely that she would've hacked into MCP's networks at some point. If you consider the deleted scene with Tron and Yori at Yori's home to be canon, then this is confirmed, considering she performs an illegal power rerouting right under MCP's nose without him noticing. As for the decision to make Tesler's arm weaponry prosthetic arms, I noticed that when his arms were cut off in _Beck's Beginning_, the severed parts of the arm were persistent objects, and didn't shatter into voxels like Quorra's arm did when it was cut off in _Legacy_. The only other program with a persistent object was Jarvis, as his visor remained intact when Clu killed him. This implies that persistent objects are not a natural part of a program's biology. It also means that, if Paige were to lose an arm in the field, she'd be stuck like that until Mara could make repairs. As for Pavel being the creator of the weapons, he was the one who upgraded Tesler's weapons during Grounded, meaning he had knowledge of how the weapons work. It's not a stretch to imagine he was the one who created them in the first place.

Ada and Melissa's conversation includes multiple references to _TRON: Evolution_. The two cities mentioned, Arjia and Bostrum, are ISO Colonies that are visited in the game. Of course, Arjia was bombed by Clu, and Abraxas infected every program in Bostrum, and all the infected programs were probably killed by Anon, the player character. Oops.

I was originally going to have Echo be the survivor that Dyson found, and he was going to be missing an arm and both legs, but I thought that would've been too obvious, so I changed it to Cody instead. Cody's comparison between viral infected programs and repurposed programs didn't sit well with Dyson, if that wasn't obvious enough. And writing the repurposing from Cody's perspective was something that genuinely freaked me out as I was writing it. I had to stop for a while, it was that bad. As for why there are no content warnings for this chapter, despite having torture and brainwashing, I only included the content warning in the previous chapter for containing material that wasn't in the show itself, in this case, attempted suicide. As both torture and brainwashing appeared in the show, I didn't have a content warning at the top.

Beck's new weapon, the shock rods, are a nod to the Rod Primitive from _TRON 2.0_, the "other" sequel that was rendered non-canon when _Legacy_ came out. The Rod Primitive functioned in the same way as Beck's shock rods, and the phrase the Black Guard simulation says as Beck is shocking him is one of the phrases the Intrusion Countermeasure Programs (ICPs) say when Jet Bradley, the player character, shocks them. Of course, the Rod Primitive is a lethal weapon in 2.0, but Beck does not like to derez programs, hence why he never applies the shock rods for an extended period. And just for the record, Beck is now always wearing the white suit Tron gave him. I couldn't find a decent place to say that in the chapter, which is why I'm including it here.

Anyway, the next episode is entitled _Field Test_, and will feature Mara and Zed on their first solo mission for the Uprising.

-ShortyBoss.


	8. Field Test

Accessing archived data...

Beck and Paige become close friends...

_...Paige grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and pulled him towards her and planted her lips on his. Beck's eyes widened as she grabbed him and pulled, but he quickly relaxed into the kiss..._

...While Zed and Mara make some new toys...

_...The baton split in two, and the halves grew in length slightly. This time, though, the ends of the baton that had been connected to each other were now sparking with electricity._

"_See?" said Zed, holding up one of the short staffs. "I got it in one try."_

_As Zed said that, though, the sparking ends of the staffs flickered and died._

"_You were saying?" asked Mara, raising an eyebrow..._

...And Dyson makes his feelings about the Uprising known.

_...Dyson snarled, and raked the disc across Cody's chest, opening a huge gash that glowed with Cody's internal energy..._

_..."Clu is cleansing the Grid of imperfections and flushing out the false diety that enslaved us for all those cycles," said Dyson. "And perfection can only be achieved if programs follow the directives they were given."_

"_You... you truly believe that," Cody said between gasps as he tried to get up onto his knees. "Just how glitched up are you?"_

* * *

Yori raised her hand and tapped an icon on the holographic display, causing an image to appear of a large domed building with a red band on the side that wrapped around the entire building.

"I'm sure you all know what this is," said Yori, turning to face her audience. "The Coliseum, home of the Games here in Argon City."

"Flynn wanted the Games to be non-lethal," said Tron. "Tests of skill for the entertainment of the programs of the Grid. Clu's changed that by making them punishment for dissidents and strays. These days, not many programs that go into the Games make it out alive."

"More importantly, the Games are a symbol of Clu's oppression. By destroying that symbol, we can give the programs hope that Clu can be brought down."

"The Coliseum's too heavily guarded," said Hawkeye. "After construction was finished, we were assigned guard duty there for a few cycles, and security was pretty heavy, even then. Now that Dyson's in charge and the Uprising is getting stronger, he would've increased the number of Guards stationed there."

"I agree, we can't hit the Coliseum _directly_," said Yori. "Not yet, at least. There is something else we can do to disrupt the Games, though."

"Hit the prisoner transports," said Beck. "They can't hold the Games if they don't have enough programs."

"Exactly," said Yori. "Unfortunately, we don't know what schedule the transports are operating on, so we can't launch a coordinated attack."

"Instead, we'll be splitting into teams and performing reconnaissance throughout Argon," said Tron. "Your job is to find as many prisoner transports as you can and liberate the captives. Most of the programs will probably have been arrested simply for breaking curfew, but some of the transports may be carrying programs from cities like Gallium and Bismuth where the Game Arenas are still under construction."

Yori nodded. "While the Arenas in those cities aren't complete, they are complete enough that the Games can be held. However, Dyson is transferring programs that have survived several rounds to Argon because the Coliseum here is better protected."

"Hopefully, those programs will want to join the Uprising when we free them," said Paige. "We need more experienced fighters. We can't rely on training programs that don't know how to fight."

"We'll worry about that after we start freeing prisoners," said Yori. "First, you need to know what the teams are. Beck, Paige and Tron, as our most experienced fighters, you'll each be operating independently."

The three programs nodded. "Will we be able to back each other up if necessary?" Paige asked.

Yori nodded. "You might also be called upon to assist the other teams if they need back up. And try not to show off your new weapons too much. I don't want Dyson finding out about those too soon."

Paige nodded. "I understand."

"Tup, Kix and Hawkeye, you three will be working together," said Yori, turning to the three former Elite Guards.

"No sense in splitting up a good team, is there?" said Hawkeye with a smirk.

"Ada and Melissa, you two are a team," said Yori.

The two female ISOs glanced at each other, then back at Yori and nodded.

"What about Zed and I?" asked Mara. "What are we doing?"

"You two will be with me," said Yori. "We need more information about the Coliseum's defences if we're going to liberate the programs inside. In order to get that information, we are going to infiltrate Dyson's flagship."

* * *

**TRON: Uprising**

**Field Test**

* * *

"_What?!_" said Zed. "How are the three of us supposed to sneak aboard that ship?"

"The ship will dock for refueling at the end of the next cycle," said Yori. "And thanks to Beck and Paige, we know exactly where the most secluded dataport for me to hack into is."

"And Dyson's forces will be distracted trying to deal with the teams hitting the prisoner transports," said Tron. "Security on the flagship will be weakened while his troops are out trying to stop us."

"So, is there a plan, or are we just wandering in blindly?" Zed asked.

"The three of us will enter the main hangar," said Yori. "You'll stay in the hangar and find us a way off the flagship, while Mara and I make our way to the dataport. Once we get to the dataport, I'll use one of the forged permissions to get access to the network and find the information we're looking for."

"Any idea how long it'll take to find that information?" Mara asked.

"No," said Yori. "I'll have to be careful to avoid being detected, which is why I want you with me. You'll keep an eye out for trouble while I'm accessing the network."

"Which means you want me in the hangar because we might have taken off by the time you get back," said Zed.

"Exactly," said Yori. "I also need you to sabotage the other vehicles in the hangar to make our escape easier."

"All right," said Zed. "I... I'll do my best."

"Good," said Yori. "Get yourselves organised; we leave in sixty micros."

* * *

Paige raised her hand to the holographic triple helix shimmering above the disc she was holding and spun it around and tapped another area. Paige glanced at the other disc next to her and tapped the same area of the triple helix on that disc, and compared the two segments of code. Paige then looked back at the disc she was holding, and made a minor alteration to the code. The holographic triple helix started flashing red, and Paige quickly reversed the change and sighed.

"I'm sorry, Melissa," Paige said, handing the disc back to its owner. "The changes the virus caused to you appear to be irreversible. If I try to fix them, it'll cause you to derez."

Melissa accepted the disc with one of her clawed hands and docked it. "Well, you managed to get that brand off my forehead. That's something, at least."

"That sort of cosmetic surgery is pretty easy," said Paige. "If that brand wasn't part of the virus, it must have been put there by whoever altered your code. Any luck figuring out who did it?"

"No, not yet," said Melissa, shaking her head. "I've started going through the memory files on my disc, but the files from my time as a virus are glitched. I've activated the self-repairing subroutine you gave me, but that could take cycles."

"I'm sorry I can't do more to help," said Paige.

"It's not your fault," said Melissa. "Besides, you've done more than enough to help me."

Paige nodded, and picked up the other disc and passed it to Ada. The other ISO took her disc back and docked it.

"I hoped we might be able to restore your hands if Paige could see an uncorrupted ISO's base code," said Ada. "I'm sorry it didn't work out."

"It's alright," said Melissa. "I've started getting used to it."

As she said that, Melissa formed her cloak around her, and slid her clawed hands into the folds of the cloak to hide them. Paige glanced at Ada, and Ada shook her head minutely.

"We'd better get moving," said Melissa. "The others are probably waiting for us."

Paige nodded, and the three programs left the medical bay and started making their way through Tron's hideout. As they walked, they saw programs altering the walls as they expanded the base, creating new corridors and rooms. The programs that weren't engrossed in their work glanced at the three programs as they walked past, and then looked away quickly when they spotted Melissa. A program walking down the hall heading in the opposite direction sidestepped so he was on the opposite side of the hall to Melissa, and another program pressed herself against the wall as Melissa went past.

"They're afraid of me," said Melissa softly. "They all think I'm going to turn back into a virus. Nobody here trusts me."

"That's not true!" said Ada. "_I_ trust you!"

"Tron, Yori and Beck all trust you," said Paige. "And I trust you as well."

"So that's five programs out of what, two dozen? Three dozen?" Melissa snapped. "Your confidence in me is overwhelming."

"Well, you aren't exactly making it easy to trust them," said Ada. "Constantly trying to hide away whenever you aren't needed isn't going to help you make any friends."

"Oh, so you're an expert on being accepted for things you couldn't control about yourself, are you?" Melissa asked. "Then, please, share your knowledge, wise one."

"Well, the sarcasm certainly isn't helping matters," said Ada. "And you don't need to wear that cloak around the base. It just makes you look like you're trying to hide something."

"I... I'll think about it," Melissa muttered as her hands fidgeted around in her cloak.

The three programs continued in silence until they reached the hangar. As she entered, she spotted Beck with Zed and Mara.

"Hey, if I can sneak in wearing a white suit, you shouldn't have any trouble," said Beck as Paige walked up to them.

"Yeah, but the last time I tried to sneak in somewhere, I fell down a ladder and you had to catch me," said Zed. "I think it's pretty clear I'm not so good at the whole stealth thing."

"You'll be fine, Zed," said Mara. "Just relax, okay?"

Zed sighed. "Easy for you to say. You've gotten onto the flagship before."

"Yes, but I had Beck's help," said Mara. "And Yori and I will be there to help you."

"Yeah, I know, it's just... I'm scared, alright?" said Zed. "I know it sounds stupid to just say that, but it's true."

"It's not stupid," said Paige. "When I first entered combat, I was scared, too. In fact, every time I fought, I was always scared I was going to be derezzed. That fear is never going to go away. You just have to push through it, every time."

"You know, that doesn't exactly fill me with confidence," said Zed.

"Yeah, I know," said Paige. "It didn't exactly make me feel any better when I realised that, either. But knowing that I can beat the fear I feel does make it a lot easier."

"And you can beat that fear," said Beck. "You did when you came to me to save Mara from Keller's pathogen code, remember?"

"Yeah, I remember," said Zed with a smile. "Thanks, Beck."

"Any time," said Beck. He glanced over Zed's shoulder and spotted Tron and Yori entering the hangar. "Looks like everyone's here. Is there anything we need to go over again?"

Nobody said anything as Tron and Yori walked up to Beck.

"Doesn't seem like there is," said Tron. "Everyone knows what they're doing."

"Remember, if there are any programs that want to join the Uprising after you free them, take them back here immediately," said Yori. "Saving the prisoners is your top priority. I don't want them getting derezzed trying to help you stop another prisoner transport."

"And if things are going badly, retreat is always an option," said Tron. "I don't want any of you to get derezzed or captured. If Dyson finds out where this base is, then the Uprising will be finished."

"Still need to work on your pep talks," said Beck in the silence that followed.

Tron sighed and rolled his eyes, the hint of a smirk on his lips. "Let's just get moving. We don't have time to waste."

Tron grabbed the baton attached to his leg and rezzed his light-cycle. As he sped off into the Outlands, ten more light-cycles followed him. As they approached Argon City, two light-cycles split off from the rest as Melissa and Ada broke off from the rest. Three more light-cycles broke off as Tup, Hawkeye and Kix went their own way. Beck was the next to split off, and Paige soon followed suit. Tron glanced over at Yori, and she smiled at him briefly.

"Be safe, Tron," Yori said.

Tron nodded. "I will," he said, before he split off as well, leaving Yori, Mara and Zed to make their way to Dyson's flagship.

* * *

Beck stood on the rooftop of an apartment building with his helmet off as he watched Guards escorting a program to the recognizer parked on the ground in front of him.

"Another program breaking curfew?" asked the female Sentry in front of the recognizer.

"Affirmative," said one of the Guards.

"Put him with the others," said the Sentry. "After he's aboard, we leave for the Coliseum."

"Understood," said one of the Guards, and poked the captive program with his staff. "Move, program."

"Guess that's my cue," said Beck, rezzing his helmet. He leaped off the roof and rolled as he landed on top of the body of the recognizer.

"I'm afraid this flight has been cancelled," Beck said as the Guards and the Sentry turned to look at him.

"It's the Renegade!" yelled the Sentry. "I'll get this one onboard. You two deal with him!"

"Yes, sir," said the Guards as they pointed their staffs at him. Beck just smirked beneath his helmet and leaped into the air. As he fell, he drew his disc and slammed it into the head of the Guard on his right, then dodged the swing of the other Guard and swept the Guard's legs out from under him. With the two Guards down, Beck turned to the open boarding ramp of the recognizer, and saw the Sentry standing there, her mouth open in shock. Thinking quickly, she grabbed the captive and pulled him in front of her, and drew her disc and held it to his throat.

"Stay back!" the Sentry yelled. "Or I'll derez him!"

"Alright," said Beck as he began returning his disc to its dock. As he did so, he saw the Sentry relax, and she removed her disc from the captive program's throat, holding at her side. Beck quickly activated his disc and threw it at the Sentry, and she shoved the captive aside as she leaped to one side. Beck charged forward and grabbed his disc as it returned to his hand, and blocked the wildly thrown disc the Sentry threw at him. The Sentry snarled and grabbed a baton from her leg and formed a staff and charged at Beck. Beck sidestepped her lunge, then grabbed the staff and pulled it out of her hands. With the Sentry disarmed, Beck smacked her on the back with the staff, knocking her to the floor. Once she was down, Beck collapsed the staff back into a baton and dropped it at her feet and turned to the captive.

"You're really _him_," said the captive as he held up his cuffed hands. "You're the Renegade."

"Yes, I am," said Beck as he cut through the cuffs with his disc. "You'd better not get caught breaking curfew on your way home."

"I won't!" said the freed program as he ran. "And thank you!"

Beck smiled under his helmet, then entered the recognizer to rescue the other captives the Sentry had mentioned.

* * *

Paige pushed the throttles of her light-cycle forward, accelerating towards the prison truck with red circuit-lines. As she pulled in front of the truck, she flicked a switch and activated her light-wall and curved around in front of the truck. The truck slammed into the light-wall, flipping over the wall and landing on its back. With the truck stopped, Paige pulled up behind the truck and collapsed her light-cycle. As she walked up to the truck, her arms began to glow as she activated the weapons built into her new prosthetic arms. Paige pulled her fist back, then slammed it into the rear of the truck, where the two halves of the door met in the centre. Her fist punched through the metal, causing it to curl in around the hole she made. Paige then grabbed both doors and pushed them apart, revealing the stunned but still living prisoners inside the truck.

"Is everyone alright?" Paige asked as she powered down her arms.

"Yeah, I think so," said a program as he stood up shakily. Paige drew her disc and sliced through the cuffs around the program's wrists, then moved on to start freeing the other programs.

"You saved our lives," said another program as Paige cut her cuffs. "How can we ever thank you?"

"Spread the word about the Uprising," said Paige as she pulled out her baton. "And don't get caught!"

Paige leaped into the air as she pulled the baton apart, rezzing her light-cycle and driving away from the crashed truck.

"Halt, program! You are in violation of curfew!"

Tron, wearing his pure black grid-suit, simply reached back and drew his disc.

"Just try and take me," he snarled as the snapping sound of his disc activating cut through the air.

One of the four Black Guards turned to the other three. "You take her back to the recognizer. We'll handle this one."

"Yes, sir," said the Black Guard. He grabbed the program's arm and roughly pushed her away as the other three Black Guards ran at Tron and drew their discs. The first one stabbed at Tron with his disc. Tron sidestepped and deflected the disc to knock the Black Guard to one side, then slammed his disc into the Black Guard's throat, derezzing him. He ducked the second Black Guard's swing, then sliced through the Black Guard's midsection, bisecting him. As the second Black Guard collapsed into voxels, the third Black Guard stopped in his tracks and dropped his disc, holding his hands up to show he wasn't armed.

"Hmph. Smart move," said Tron as he deactivated the cutting edge of his disc. He then lunged forward and slammed his disc into the Black Guard's helmet. The Black Guard's faceplate shattered as he collapsed into unconsciousness. Tron then reactivated the cutting edge on his disc and threw it at the retreating Black Guard, and the thrown disc pierced the Black Guard's chest, derezzing him. The captive program gasped as the Black Guard's voxels spilled onto the ground, and turned to face Tron.

"Wh-who are you?!" she asked.

"It's alright," said Tron as he caught his disc. "I'm with the Uprising. I'm here to rescue you."

"Really?"

Tron nodded and held up his disc. "Your hands?"

The program raised her arms, and Tron sliced through the cuffs with ease.

"How can I repay you?" she asked.

"Spread the word," said Tron as he rezzed his light-cycle. "Tron Lives!"

* * *

Yori watched through her binoculars as recognizers and light-copters began flying out of the flagship as it approached the Argon refueling tower. She then turned her gaze to the refueling towers, and noticed the lack of guards on the towers keeping watch.

"Looks like Dyson took the bait," said Yori. "The towers are unguarded. If we fly onto those, we can sneak aboard the flagship."

"I hope Beck and the others are okay," said Mara.

"They'll be fine," said Zed. "They know what they're doing. Well, Beck, Paige and Tron know what they're doing. Not sure about the others."

"We'll find out if they're any good soon enough," said Yori as she lowered her binoculars. "Now's our chance. Rez your helmets and follow me."

Yori grabbed her baton as her helmet formed around her head. The tinted faceplate slid into place as she leaped off the building and rezzed her light-jet. Behind her, Zed and Mara both jumped after her and rezzed their light jets. Yori dove for a few seconds and circled around, getting under it and out of sight of the recognizers and light-copters that were leaving the flagship. She glanced over her shoulder, and saw that Zed and Mara were still following her. Yori looped around and flew towards one of the refueling towers and collapsed her light-jet, letting her forward momentum carry her the rest of the way to the tower. She rolled as she landed, spinning around as she came to her feet to watch Mara and Zed coming in. Mara approached first, and also collapsed her light-jet as she got close. Mara managed a roll as she landed, but staggered a few steps after coming out of her roll before she steadied herself. As Zed got closer, he simply braked until his light-jet slowed to a crawl, then landed on the tower and climbed off as his light-jet collapsed back into his baton.

"Okay, now what?" Zed asked.

"We wait for the ship to dock," said Yori. "Once it docks, the ship will drop ladders down to collect the Guards that are normally stationed up here and let the next shift down. We wait for the next shift to come down, take them out, then climb the ladder."

"And how are we supposed to stay out of sight until then?" Mara asked.

Yori walked around to the black wall towards one end of the tower. "There's a ledge running around the refueling tower that's wide enough to stand on," she said. "We'll hide behind this during the shift change."

The three programs stepped down onto the ledge and carefully edged around until they were all behind the wall. Zed poked his head out and looked up as the flagship docked with the refueling towers and the hatches opened.

"You were right, there are ladders," said Zed as the ladder in question began lowering down. There was a loud clang as the ladder finished extending, and Zed got ready to pull his head back quickly if someone started climbing down the ladder.

"That's funny," he said. "No-one's coming down the ladder."

"You sure?" Mara asked.

"Yeah... wait, no, here they come," said Zed as he spotted someone climbing down. "Looks like it's just three guards."

"So that's one each," said Yori. "We'll have to knock them out if we want to get on-board. And do it quietly."

Zed carefully edged forward until he was able to step up from the ledge, and waited as Mara and Yori got up next to him.

"Go," said Yori as she drew her disc. She charged at one of the Guards and slammed her disc into the back of his head, and the Guard collapsed. Mara ran up to the second Guard and swept her leg, knocking the Guard onto his back. Once the Guard was down, she straddled him and smacked his head with her fist, knocking him out. The third Guard began to turn around as Zed pulled out his baton and pulled it apart, causing the baton to form two short staffs that had sparks emanating from one end. Zed jammed the sparking ends of the shock rods into the Guard's sides, and the Guard spasmed as electric shocks coursed through his body. Zed pulled the shock rods back, and the Guard slumped as he fell unconscious. Yori and Mara dragged the Guards they had taken out to Zed, and Yori pulled out a few pairs of hand cuffs and locked the Guards' hands together. Once the cuffs were in place, she began climbing up the ladder, followed by Zed, then Mara. As Zed climbed up into the flagship, he saw Yori pull a grate off the wall, revealing a ventilation shaft.

"In here," said Yori as she crawled in. Zed followed her in, and Mara soon crawled in after him.

"Where are we going first?" Mara asked.

"We'll drop Zed off at the hangar, then make our way to the dataport," said Yori. "Follow me."

* * *

Ada's eyes scanned the checkpoint outside Argon. She and Melissa were standing on a rocky outcropping overseeing the checkpoint, and a number of recognizer cargo containers were laid out near the checkpoint.

"Seen any recognizers yet?" Melissa asked.

"A few, but none of them were headed for the checkpoint," said Ada. "Those are the containers used to transport prisoners, aren't they?"

Melissa nodded. "I saw a few, back when I was hauling cargo in Bostrum before the war. Never ended up carrying one on my recognizer, though."

Ada turned around to look over the Outlands. "Doesn't look like there's any coming from Bismuth, either."

"Guess we just have to wait," said Melissa as she sat down and drew her disc. She held it out in front of her, and began scrolling through datafiles.

"What are you doing?"

"Checking my memory files," said Melissa as she checked the timestamp on one of the datafiles. "Maybe I'll be able to find out something about the son of a glitch that turned me into a virus."

"I hope you find something," said Ada as she continued watching for recognizers.

"Yeah, me too," said Melissa.

After a few minutes of silence, Melissa spoke again. "I think I found something."

"Really? Can I see?" asked Ada.

Melissa nodded, and tapped a memory file. "There's a huge gap between the timestamps of these two files, and this file here was from the day I first arrived in Argon."

"That space in time must've been when you were corrupted," said Ada.

Melissa nodded, and tapped the memory file again, playing the video saved in the file. The file showed Melissa walking through one of the streets of Argon, pulling up the sleeve on her left arm nervously. There was a soft clank, and the Melissa in the video spun around, drawing her disc.

"Who's there?!" Melissa yelled. "I'm warning you, I know how to fight!"

"Good," said a voice from behind Melissa. The Melissa in the video spun around, and was punched in the chin. Melissa tried to sit up, and glanced up at a helmeted program in a white suit. On the program's chest was a glowing white circle with four squares arranged in the shape of a T.

"Welcome to Argon," said the Renegade as the video file ended.

"What?!" Melissa asked as she stared at the video in disbelief. "The Renegade attacked me?!"

Ada narrowed her eyes. "Something's not right. I haven't known Beck for that long, but he'd never do something like that."

"You sure?" asked Melissa.

"Absolutely," said Ada with a nod. "Wait. Can I see the timestamp on that memory file?"

Melissa tapped the video, closing it and displaying the file information. Ada then drew her own disc and accessed her own memory files. When Ada found one that matched the timestamp of Melissa's memory file, she played the video. The video showed a group of helmeted programs inside a run-down building.

"What is that place?" Melissa asked.

"It was where the Bismuth Rebels met whenever we needed to," said Ada. "I was part of the Rebels until the Renegade arrived in Bismuth to recruit us."

As Ada and Melissa watched the memory file, the door to the building opened to reveal the Renegade being led inside by a black-clad female program.

"This is the day the Renegade arrived to recruit the Rebels," said Ada.

"Are you sure it was Beck?" Melissa asked.

Ada nodded. "He was with Yori the whole time he was in our base, and he had his helmet off while he was talking to her. After we were forced to flee, he was in my sight until we reached Tron's base in the Outlands, when he took off his helmet again. There is no way the Renegade in your video was Beck."

"Well, if it wasn't Beck who attacked me, then who did?" Melissa asked as she returned to the list of memory files. "Wait, there's a memory file between when I was knocked out and when I woke up as a virus."

"Really?"

Melissa nodded. "All of the memory files from my time as a virus have corrupted names, but there's one file after the Renegade knocked me out that has a normal file name."

"We'll have to check it out later," said Ada. "Recognizer approaching from Bismuth, and it's carrying cargo."

Melissa stood up and docked her disc. "What's the plan?"

Ada pulled out her baton and rezzed her light-jet. "Climb on," she said to Melissa. Once Melissa had gotten on and wrapped her arms around Ada's waist, Ada gunned the light-jet and began racing towards the recognizer. She climbed up for a few seconds and levelled out when she was lined up with the recognizer's cockpit. Ada drew her disc and threw it at the recognizer's cockpit as she collapsed her light-jet. The disc smashed through the windscreen and pierced through the chest of one of the Sentries piloting the recognizer as Ada and Melissa began falling forward. Ada's disc bounced back into her hand as she and Melissa passed through the broken glass and landed inside the recognizer's cockpit. As Ada spun around to face the Sentries, she saw the one she'd hit derez and Melissa raised her clawed hand and slashed the second Sentry through the chest, derezzing him as well.

"Where too?" Melissa asked as she walked up to the controls, brushing a few voxels off them.

"Just set down out of sight of the checkpoint so I can free the prisoners," said Ada. "Once they're free, we'll take the recognizer and any prisoners who want to join us back to Tron's base."

"Got it," said Melissa as she turned the recognizer around and flew off towards the Outlands. She brought the recognizer to a halt and lowered the container to the ground, before moving forward a bit and landing the recognizer. Once the recognizer landed, Melissa followed Ada out of the recognizer and to the container. Ada drew her disc, and cut a hole in one of the walls of the container.

"Oh, thank the Creator," said a male voice from inside the container. "I thought we'd never be... wait, is that you, Ada?"

"I know you," said Ada. "You were with the Bismuth Rebels, weren't you?"

"Yeah," said the program. "All three of us were. We were captured buying you and our leader time to escape when the Occupation attacked."

"Backus, right?" Ada said.

"Yeah, that's me. Alick and Simula are here with me, as well," said Backus as he gestured first to the male program in the container, and then to the female.

"Is there anyone else?" Ada asked.

"No, it was just us three," said Simula. "We were sent to Argon because we kept escaping the Bismuth arena."

"And if you're here, then you and our leader made it to safety in Argon, right?" asked Alick.

"Not in Argon, but yes, we're safe," said Ada. "We've joined the Renegade in his Uprising"

"Where is the Renegade, anyway?" asked Alick. "Is he with you?"

"No, he and some of the others are out rescuing other programs," said Ada. "We're trying to disrupt the Games by preventing programs from being taken, and we've also got a team trying to get information on the Coliseum's defences."

"Do you need our help?" Backus asked.

"No, we've got enough teams working in Argon," said Ada. "But if you're willing to join the Uprising, I can take you to our base of operations."

Backus glanced at Alick, then at Simula, and received nods from both of them. "We're in," he said.

* * *

Yori slid a grate aside and crawled out of the vent. Zed and Mara crawled out after her, and Yori beckoned them over to where she was hiding behind a light-tank.

"We've got you into the hangar," said Yori. "Think you can sabotage all these vehicles?"

"You just want me to focus on the recognizers and light-copters, right?" said Zed as he scanned the hangar. "I think I can handle that."

"That's good," said Yori. "Just remember, don't rush. It's better if you don't take unnecessary risks and get yourself caught."

Zed nodded as he pulled out his multitool. "Here goes nothing," he muttered as he peeked over the tank to check where the Guards were while Yori made her way back to the ventilation shaft.

"Be careful, Zed," said Mara softly, before she made her way over to the vent as well.

Zed stared after her with his eyes wide as she walked over to the vent, but after a few seconds, he shook his head and focused himself on the task at hand. He ran behind the tanks as he made his way towards a light-copter, peeking out at the Guards on occasion. He ran between two tanks and climbed into a light-copter, dropping out of sight into the cockpit. He attached the multitool to the control console, and got to work disabling the engine.

* * *

Dyson shot a glance at Pavel as the taller program entered the command centre.

"Let me guess," said Dyson. "The Uprising has hit another prisoner transport."

"I'm afraid so, sir," said Pavel, handing Dyson the tablet he was carrying. "That's the ninth this cycle."

Dyson yanked the tablet out of Pavel's hands and gave it a cursory glance, then entered the information from the tablet into the display in front of him.

"There's no way they could know where our transports are in advance, sir," said Pavel. "I checked all our outgoing and ingoing datastreams myself."

"Of course they don't know where the transports are," said Dyson. "Look at the hits on this map. Do you see a pattern emerging?"

Pavel studied the map briefly, and though he was initially tempted to say there was, just to show Dyson up, he knew he wouldn't be able to back his boast up, so he decided to tell the truth.

"No, I'm afraid I don't, sir," said Pavel.

"That's because there _isn't_ one," said Dyson. "The Uprising has at least five teams spread across Argon searching and hitting the transports and freeing the criminals inside those transports."

"I've taken the liberty of dispatching our forces to hunt down the Uprising," said Pavel. "They won't escape us this time."

"Are you so sure?" Dyson asked, raising his eyebrow as he looked at Pavel.

"Uh..." said Pavel. "Well, I..."

Dyson chuckled at Pavel's nervousness as he folded his arms behind his back. "I'm leaving you in charge of the flagship," said Dyson as he began walking towards the door. "Coordinate your search for the Uprising. I'm heading out to deal with the Renegade personally."

Dyson snapped his fingers, and the Black Guards standing at the door snapped to attention and fell into step behind Dyson, their synchronised footsteps echoing through the room as Pavel turned his attention to the display Dyson had left him.

* * *

Hawkeye knelt down next to Kix as Tup paced nervously behind her.

"Have they finished loading the light-rail?" Hawkeye asked.

Kix nodded as she lowered her binoculars. "It should be at the target area in a few micros. You sure you can hit that from here?"

Hawkeye collapsed her helmet, feeling the wind on her face as she looked at the support struts for the light-rail in the distance. Hawkeye pulled a light-grenade from her leg and tossed it up and down a few times.

"I can hit it," said Hawkeye as she rezzed her helmet again. "Just tell me when to throw."

Kix nodded, and raised her binoculars to her face again. Hawkeye stood up, breathing deeply as she steadied herself. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed that Tup had stopped pacing, and was waiting tensely.

"Ready?" said Kix.

"Ready," Hawkeye said, pulling her arm back to throw as she armed the grenade.

"Now!"

Hawkeye tossed the grenade, and watched as the small black device arced through the air, beeping as the timer counted down. The grenade began falling as the beeping increased in speed, and as the beeping reached a constant tone, the grenade struck the support strut. With an ear-splitting boom, the explosion ripped apart the support strut, deactivating the train line and causing the light-rail to fall off the tracks and skid to a halt.

"Squad Six, move out!" Kix yelled as the light-rail hit the ground and the screech of metal on metal filled the air.

"Yes, sir!"

The three Elite Guards leaped off the building and began running towards the downed light-rail.

"For your own safety, and the safety of your fellow passengers, please remain seated," said the announcer that was ubiquitous across the Grid. "Our attentive staff is currently working to correct this minor delay. Remain calm. Transport to the Coliseum will continue shortly."

"Halt!" yelled a Guard as the three Elite Guards started to get close to the light-rail. "Rogue programs spotted!"

"Take them out!" yelled Kix.

Hawkeye drew her disc and tossed it towards one of the Guards, hitting him in the head and derezzing him. Tup threw a grenade at the Guards, and the smoke bomb detonated, throwing out clouds of black smoke to blind the Guards. Kix and Tup ran into the smoke with their discs drawn, and the shattering sound of deresolution echoed out as Kix and Tup emerged from the smoke unharmed. Hawkeye's disc bounced back to her, and she threw it again, this time derezzing a Black Guard. The disc bounced off one of the light-rail carriages, and derezzed another Black Guard as it returned to Hawkeye's hand.

"Split up and start opening the carriages," said Kix. The other two nodded and ran to the downed light-rail, forcing the doors open, and cutting through them as needed.

* * *

Yori held up her hand, and Mara stopped.

"This is it," said Yori. "If we drop down here, we'll be right in front of the dataport I need."

Mara nodded. "I'm ready."

Yori drew her disc and cut through the latch on the grate, causing it to swing open. She dropped down the opening, and Mara soon followed. The female mechanic looked around, and saw Yori heading towards the dataport. It resembled the dock for a program's identity disc, except a holographic display was shimmering just above the dataport.

"There should be another vent in the floor near here," said Yori as she drew her disc. "Find it."

Mara nodded, and began looking around as she searched for the grate. Yori attached her disc to the dataport, and the dataport began examining the falsified permissions Yori had forged.

"Access granted," said the voice of the Grid, and Yori smiled beneath her helmet as she began searching through the systems for the information she was after.

* * *

Pavel watched the map as the new search pattern appeared in red, while he marked another attack from the Uprising in white. In one corner, an alert began flashing red as a beeping noise began to sound out. With a gesture, Pavel moved the map aside and tapped the alert, bringing up a map of the ship with a single point highlighted.

"Unauthorised dataport access detected," said the voice of the Grid. "Permission key not found in Occupation database."

"What?!" Pavel snarled.

"Unauthorised dataport access detected," the voice of the Grid said again, not recognising the rhetorical question. "Permission key not found in Occupation database."

Pavel rolled his eyes and put the schematic of the flagship aside, and began attempting to remotely access the dataport in question. As he typed in the command to give him access, the link with the dataport went offline.

"Access denied," said the voice of the Grid.

Pavel ignored the announcer as he tried to access the datastream the dataport was accessing, but was rebuffed again. He attempted to bypass the datastream and access the main archive to see what was being downloaded, but again he was denied. He tried again and again, trying to access the download, the datastream, the dataport and the main archive in different orders and combinations, but each time he was prevented from accessing the intruder's dataport. In frustration, Pavel drew his disc and docked it in the dataport next to the display. As the dataport checked his permissions, Pavel moved the access attempts to the side, and brought up the main archive. With a few keystrokes, Pavel confirmed his permissions and selected the main archive shut down sequence. He entered his override code and confirmed it again.

"Override accepted," said the voice of the Grid. "Main archive shutting down."

With the archive dealt with, Pavel then turned and stormed outside.

"_We have an intruder!_" Pavel yelled, causing the Sentry stationed there to flinch in surprise. "At the dataport on level 15, subsection B4! Find them and bring them to me alive! I want to interrogate them myself!"

"Yes, sir!" said the Sentry, running off to sound the alert.

* * *

Yori spat out a nasty string of hexadecimal code, and removed her disc from the dataport.

"What's wrong?" Mara asked.

"Whoever was trying to stop me shut down the main archive," Yori said. "We have to get out of here."

Mara nodded. "The grate's over here. Did you get what we were looking for?"

"I did, and quite a few other things," said Yori as she followed Mara into the vent. "All sorts of information, from patrol schedules for Argon to energy stores for this ship. That way, they won't know what we were actually after."

* * *

Beck blocked another blow from Dyson's disc and leaped back. Dyson swung the energy cord again, and this time Beck ducked under the disc and charged forward, slashing at Dyson. Dyson yanked on the cord and pulled his disc to his hand. Once Dyson had his disc in hand, he blocked Beck's attack, and slashed at the Renegade with his own disc.

"You can't win, Renegade!" Dyson yelled. "There will always be lawbreakers and strays we can round up for the Games! They won't all join your pathetic Uprising!"

"We don't need numbers!" said Beck. "We'll win through quality, not quantity!"

Beck kicked at Dyson, and Dyson dodged. Beck then attacked with his disc, but Dyson punched his arm, causing him to drop his disc. Dyson then kneed Beck in the stomach, causing him to stagger back as he wheezed for breath.

"Too bad you didn't save any of that so-called quality for yourself," said Dyson. "Any last words?"

"Yeah," said Beck, looking over Dyson's shoulder. "_Tron Lives!_"

"What?!" Dyson raised his disc to attack, then realised that Beck wasn't looking at him. He turned around, and ducked as a disc came flying towards him. Beck shoved Dyson back and dove forward, grabbing his disc and rolling to his feet. As Dyson recovered, he saw Beck being joined by a male program with a very familiar angular helmet wearing a black grid-suit with very few circuit-lines. Dyson grabbed the baton on his leg and pulled it apart.

"Another time, Renegade," said Dyson as he formed a light-jet and took off. Tron pulled out his own baton to pursue, but Beck rested a hand on the older program's shoulder.

"We're not here for Dyson," said Beck. "We're freeing prisoners, remember?"

Tron grudgingly returned the baton to his leg. "You got sloppy," said Tron. "You're lucky I was nearby."

"Dyson was hiding inside one of the prisoner transports," said Beck. "He might be setting up other ambushes like that. We should pull back."

Tron nodded. "Do you have any recruits?"

"Paige is taking them back to the base," said Beck. "She's driving a stolen Occupation truck."

"Have you heard from the ISOs and Squad Six?" Tron asked.

"Melissa and Ada hit a recognizer coming from Bismuth," said Beck. "They took it back to the base and never came back to Argon. Last I heard from Squad Six, they hit a light-rail near Able's Garage."

"I'll find Squad Six," said Tron. "I'll meet you back at the hideout."

Beck nodded, and the two programs rezzed their light-cycles and drove off.

* * *

Zed wiped his arm across his forehead to get rid of the nervous sweat, then rezzed his helmet again as he finished dismantling the recognizer's engines. He detached his multitool and returned it to his leg, then ran over to a tank and ducked behind it as a Guard started looking his way. Zed turned around, and spotted the grate that he had entered the hangar from. Zed ran over to the next tank, and checked where the Guards were. As far as he could tell, none of them had noticed that he'd sabotaged the vehicles in the hangar. Zed heard a soft scraping noise from above him and looked up as he reached for his disc. When he saw a grate being slid aside by Mara, he relaxed and waved her down. Mara dropped down, and stepped aside as Yori followed her.

"Did you get it?" Zed asked. "The information, I mean. When I heard the intruder alert-"

"Don't worry, Zed, we're fine," said Mara. "And Yori got what we came for, too."

"Good," said Zed. "I do not want to have to do this again."

"Did you sabotage everything?" Yori asked.

"Yeah," said Zed. "You have no idea how stressful it was trying to get through there without being seen!" Zed paused briefly. "Okay, maybe you do."

"Is one of those light-copters still good to fly?" Mara asked.

"Yeah, that one," said Zed, pointing at it. "Should we sneak over, or just run?"

"They know we're here," said Yori. "Not much point in subtlety any more."

Yori leaped up and ran to the light-copter, and Zed and Mara ran after her.

"Unauthorised programs spotted!" yelled a Guard as he spotted them. "Halt!"

An alarm began blaring as Yori boarded the light-copter and got the propellers spinning. As Guards started running to the light-copter, Yori took off, and Zed jumped on, then turned around and held out a hand to Mara. Mara leaped and grabbed Zed's hand, and Zed pulled her on. Yori spun the light-copter around and flew out the hangar before the door could begin closing, and Zed poked his head out and watched the fruit of his labours. The propellers of one light-copter shot off as they began spinning, and another got airborne briefly before the engine stalled. A recognizer began to take off, but only the engine in the left pylon fired up, causing the recognizer to begin spinning on the inactive right pylon.

"Nice work, Zed," said Yori. "Now hang on. We're getting out of here."

* * *

Beck collapsed his helmet as he entered the main chamber, and saw Paige and Tron talking with the new recruits. The new programs all began to get up and leave, talking amongst themselves and Beck walked up to Paige. When she spotted him, Paige ran up to him and hugged him.

"Thank goodness you're okay," said Paige. "When I heard you were attacked by Dyson-"

"Don't worry, I'm fine," said Beck.

"You wouldn't have been if I hadn't been there," said Tron. "That's another one you owe me."

"I thought we were even by now," said Beck. "Are you counting Purgos? You _know_ that doesn't count."

"I'm not counting it, and we _were_ even," said Tron. "Now I'm ahead by one."

"This is what I get for being saved by the best fighter on the Grid," said Beck, rolling his eyes and shaking his head. As he did, he spotted Melissa waiting to speak to them.

"What is it?" Beck asked.

"I found out who turned me into a virus," Melissa said.

"Really?" asked Paige. "How?"

"They left a message on my disc," said Melissa as she held her disc in front of her. "A message for Beck."

"What?"

Melissa opened the memory file, and a hologram shimmered into existence above the disc. The hologram showed a face, one that was absolutely covered in white circuit-lines.

"Surprise, Beck," said the program with a smug grin on his face. "Bet you'd thought you'd seen the last of me."

"Cyrus," said Beck as his eyes went wide.

* * *

And so the real work in taking the fight to the Occupation begins. Yori is the one who actually came up with the plan after Tron suggested the target to her. And Melissa is still struggling to deal with the whole becoming a virus thing. It's not exactly helping that most of the Uprising is terrified of her.

I pretty much had every method of prisoner transport that appeared on the show in this story, and our heroes hit them all. The amount of prisoners they would have to take to maintain the Games has to be staggering, and that's not taking into account any strays that are rounded up, or programs transported from other cities under the Occupation's boot.

And so, the surviving Bismuth Rebels enter the picture. Alick is named after Alick Glennie, an early computer programmer who developed the Autocode programming language in the early 1950s. Backus is named after John Backus, who developed the FORTRAN programming language for IBM in 1954. Simula is the name of a Norwegian programming language developed by Ole-Johan Dahl and Kristen Nygaard in the 1960s. Of course, there was one more mentioned as having escaped, but that particular Rebel was rounded up in Argon for breaking curfew and thrown into the Games. Who knows what happened to them then...?

Next episode, _Master and Apprentice_, featuring everyone's favourite former Renegade, Cyrus. This is gonna be a doozy.


End file.
